What Is International Strategy Research and What Is Not?

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/gsj.1104
• Author: Torben Pedersen,Stephen Tallman
• Date: 01 November 2015
• Published date: 01 November 2015

COMMENTARY

WHAT IS INTERNATIONAL STRATEGY RESEARCH

AND WHAT IS NOT?

STEPHEN TALLMAN1* and TORBEN PEDERSEN2

1Robins School of Business, University of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia,

U.S.A.

2Department of Management and Technology, Bocconi University, Milan,

Italy

INTRODUCTION

This issue of Global Strategy Journal marks the end

of the fifth year of publication for the journal. The

first five years have entailed a number of innovations

and significant contributions to the conversations on

international strategy issues. We are committed to

continue along this path in the years to come. The

best indication that we are on the right track came

with the listing in the SSCI this year. Global Strategy

Journal (GSJ) was ranked No. 16 of 185 in Manage-

ment (impact factor (IF) of 3.694). This is supported

by a five-year IF of 4.396 (No. 21) and an Article

Influence Score of 1.647 (No. 27). These measures

provide a strong indication that published GSJ

articles are impacting scholarly research. This is par-

ticularly encouraging, as the ultimate goal of any

journal is to influence the research conversations in

its field. On all measures, GSJ ranks well ahead of

many more established and well-respected journals.

Although these rankings are notoriously volatile,

this debut success suggests that GSJ is already the

place for scholarly work on international strategy

issues. As such, the past five years provide an excel-

lent basis for outlining what international strategy

research really is, i.e., identifying the boundaries of

international strategy research and, therefore, the

domain of GSJ.

INTERNATIONALISM—THE

DEFINING CHARACTERISTIC

International strategy (IS) involves the study of

cross-border activities of economic agents or the

strategies and governance of firms engaged in such

activity. International scope obviously is comprised

of many parts, as one could claim that very few

economic activities do not have an international

dimension. It is certainly true that more and more

economic activities are becoming more and more

international and global, so the context for studying

economic activities will often involve different

cross-border activities.

However, in IS research, the key is not just to use

the international dimension as the context of study,

but to make the international dimension a key aspect

of the study. The basic claim is that the international

dimension is not just a matter of degree, but that it

changes the nature of many of the activities we scru-

tinize. When compared with domestic activities,

international activities entail more risks, uncertainty,

psychic distance, cultural distance, institutional dis-

tance, etc., but also more opportunities that come

from diversity in knowledge, resources, and user

preferences. These fundamental differences in con-

ducting business domestically and internationally go

to the core of IS. In fact, it is a make-or-break crite-

Keywords: Strategy research, international management, inter-

national strategy

*Correspondence to Stephen Tallman,University of Richmond,

Robins School of Business, 1 Gateway Rd., Richmond, VA

23173, U.S.A. E-mail: Stallman@richmond.edu

Global Strategy Journal

Global Strat. J., 5: 273–277 (2015)

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI: 10.1002/gsj.1104

Copyright © 2015 Strategic Management Society