Over the last few decades universities in Australia and overseas have been criticized for not meeting the needs and expectations of the societies in which they operate. At the heart of this problem is their strategy. This book reviews the organizational-level strategies of some of Australia's prominent universities. It is based on their public documents that boldly report how they see their role in society and how they intend to navigate the future. These strategic statements are written to proclaim relevance, showcase achievements, attract students, and help to gain the support of the communities in which they operate. Using a strategy framework taught in their business schools, this book suggests that most such statements are deficient. Grand aspirations substitute for realistic operations and outcomes. The analysis also suggests that many of Australia's universities are poorly governed and have become too complex and bureaucratic. A greater focus on their core responsibilities would help alleviate their current funding predicament.

Institutional theory has been used increasingly by international business and management researchers to explain the behavior and strategies of multinational enterprises. If early international business research was dominated by the application of transaction cost and neoclassical economics, reviews of recent publications and conference programs suggest that the past decade has been dominated by the application of institutional theory. The 2012 volume of the "Advances in International Management" series represents the collection of an eclectic mix of contemporary research by leading and emerging scholars working on institutional theory. The contributions present new theoretical frameworks of institutions and propose interesting ideas that will provide the foundation for doctoral dissertations and research projects.

Over the last few decades universities in Australia and overseas have been criticized for not meeting the needs and expectations of the societies in which they operate. At the heart of this problem is their strategy. This book reviews the organizational-level strategies of some of Australia's prominent universities. It is based on their public documents that boldly report how they see their role in society and how they intend to navigate the future. These strategic statements are written to proclaim relevance, showcase achievements, attract students, and help to gain the support of the communities in which they operate. Using a strategy framework taught in their business schools, this book suggests that most such statements are deficient. Grand aspirations substitute for realistic operations and outcomes. The analysis also suggests that many of Australia's universities are poorly governed and have become too complex and bureaucratic. A greater focus on their core responsibilities would help alleviate their current funding predicament.

Cross-border flows of goods, services, capital, knowledge, and ideas have substantially increased over the last decades. These developments have increased the interdependencies among previously separated economies, given rise to arguments regarding the flattening of the world. Yet, firms investing overseas continue to experience substantial liabilities stemming from their foreignness. At the same time new locations are appearing on the global map that offers very attractive location-specific advantages. In addition, the range of participants in international competition has widened, in terms of both the number of countries involved and the types of firms competing, to encompass developed market firms expanding beyond industrialized countries, and emerging market firms joining global competition. The focus of this volume is on how the interface between firm-specific advantages, liability of foreignness, and location-specific advantages are spelled out in the more global world.

Volume 28 of the Advances in International Management focuses on the opportunities and challenges for multinational enterprises that consider emerging economies as their destinations or their homes. Chapters in this volume examine the rise of home-grown multinational enterprises in emerging economies and the challenges they face when they enter developed markets. They also analyze the co-evolution of and the dynamic interaction between market institutions and business organizations in emerging economies. The volume provides a forum for thought-provoking ideas, empirical research, and discussions, and is ideal for researchers and doctoral students whose work touches emerging markets.

This volume concentrates on the substantive gaps in the IB/IM field and addresses whether these gaps are resolvable with our current theoretical and methodological toolkit. This entails three specific queries about the past and present: Have our theories advanced some combination of explanation and prediction? Have our methods proven to be effective in providing rigorous, robust and consistent evidence with respect to the explanatory and predictive validity of our theories? Have we studied the right phenomena in the right way?

This volume concentrates on the substantive gaps in the IB/IM field and addresses whether these gaps are resolvable with our current theoretical and methodological toolkit. This entails three specific queries about the past and present: Have our theories advanced some combination of explanation and prediction? Have our methods proven to be effective in providing rigorous, robust and consistent evidence with respect to the explanatory and predictive validity of our theories? Have we studied the right phenomena in the right way?