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Dear Colleagues:

You are cordially invited to attend the following Showcase Symposium at the upcoming Academy of Management Meeting:

"Developing Interdisciplinary Theories of the Multinational Corporation: Prospects, Issues, and Challenges"

Submission: 12630 | Sponsors: IM, BPS, OMT

Scheduled: Monday, Aug 4 2014 11:30AM - 1:00PM

Location: Pennsylvania Convention Center in Room 104A

Chair: Joseph L. C. Cheng, Australian School of Business UNSW

Panelist: Timothy Michael Devinney, University of Leeds

Panelist: Charles Dhanaraj, IMD

Panelist: Nathan Jensen, Washington University

Panelist: Jane Qiu, Australian School of Business UNSW

Panelist: Eleanor Westney, York University

This symposium is a response to recent recalls for increased efforts in new theory production in International Management (Buckley, 2002; Cheng, 2007; Shenkar, 2004) as well as in the related fields of Organization Studies (Davis, 2010; Schoonhoven et al., 2005) and Strategy (Barney, 2005; Hambrick, 2004).  Its main goal is to re-engage management scholars in original knowledge creation activities that go beyond the current practices of validating and extending established theories (most of which are borrowed from the social science disciplines) to develop more comprehensive theories that have greater explanatory and predictive power.  The symposium will also examine the need for a new research language to facilitate the conduct of interdisciplinary inquiry and more effectively communicate its findings and their significance, an important aspect of the "Power of Words" theme of the 2014 AOM Meeting.  Three panel speakers with disciplinary background (Timothy Devinney in Economics, Nathan Jensen in Political Science, and Eleanor Westney in Sociology) and two speakers trained in management (Charles Dhanaraj in Strategy and Jane Qiu in Organization Theory) will participate in an interactive forum to discuss and engage the audience in taking the first steps in developing new interdisciplinary theories about the multinational corporation.  These five speakers represent a mix of colleagues at different career stages and from schools based in five countries (Australia, Canada, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and United States) across the triad.  The symposium will be chaired by Joseph Cheng who is a consulting editor at the Journal of International Business Studies and the lead co-editor of the journal's forthcoming 2014 special issue on "Advancing Interdisciplinary Research in International Business: Integrative Knowledge and Transformative Theories."

We hope to see many of you at the Showcase Symposium!

Best,