MIB Seminar by Jean-Francois Hennart (AIB Fellow)

Emerging market competition, nationalism, and the decline of the liberal order. Why are we surprised?

Abstract: Western scholars, business elites, and politicians seem to have been genuinely surprised by the speed at which emerging market firms have caught up and in some cases overtaken their firms; by the increasing rejection of the liberal order that up to now has sustained a period of unprecedented economic growth; and by the surge in nationalism that threatens globalization and lead  electorates and political leaders to opt for lose-lose economic strategies. I argue that the extent of the surprise is due to four faulty assumptions made by Western scholars over the years: (1) that technology is more strategic than access to complementary factors; (2) that shareholder-value maximization is, or soon will be, the goal of managers worldwide; (3) that economic integration will lead to political convergence; (4) and that the fear of economic losses will prevent the adoption of lose-lose economic strategies. I speculate that these assumptions are rooted in the Anglo-Saxon view of technology, individual economic motives, and the nature of markets.

About Prof. Hennart: Jean-François Hennart (Ph.D Economics, University of Maryland) is Emeritus Professor of International Management at Tilburg University. His previous full-time appointments were at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Wharton, and Florida International University. He holds and has held visiting positions at Politecnico di Milano, Aalborg University, Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien, Kobe University, Osaka City University, Copenhagen Business School, Singapore Management University, Queens University Belfast, the University of Pavia, University College Dublin, and BI Norwegian Business School. 

His research focuses on the comparative study of international economic institutions such as multinational firms (MNEs) and their contractual alternatives, on modes of foreign market entry, and on equity joint ventures. His Theory of Multinational Enterprise (University of Michigan Press, 1982) pioneered the application of transaction cost theory to international business. He is presently working on MNEs from emerging countries, Born Globals, the internationalization of family firms, e-commerce, and the measurement of MNE activity. His work has garnered more than 23,000 Google citations. 

He is a Fellow of the Academy of International Business and of the European International Business Academy for which he co-chairs the annual doctoral tutorial. He is consulting editor at the Journal of International Business Studies (JIBS) and serves on the editorial boards of most major IB journals. He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Vaasa and was elected in 2010 Booz&Co/Strategy+Business Eminent Scholar in International Management. In 2019 he received a Gold Medal for his publications in JIBS.