Mehdi Boussebaa
Biographic Data
| ID | 4419328 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Mehdi Boussebaa |
| GIVEN NAMES | Mehdi |
| FAMILY NAME | Boussebaa |
| SIGNATURE | BOUSSEBAA M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Glasgow |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4283-2468 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 11 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 21 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 11 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2008 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Englishization Beyond the Global North: Dependency, Struggle, and Resistance in Brazilian Management Research
This paper advances understanding of Englishization in management research by addressing a key limitation in the existing literature: its predominant focus on the Global North, especially Europe. Drawing on dependency theory and postcolonial theory, we examine how management academics experience and navigate Englishization in Brazil. Based on qualitative research, we found that Brazilian academics, like their European counterparts, faced growing …
Transnational corporate power, neo-colonialism and investigative journalism: A conversation with Matt Kennard
Purpose This viewpoint aims to contribute to understanding corporate power in two key respects. First, it provides insight into the ways in which transnational corporations continue to operate as vehicles for neo-colonial projects, which are underpinned by exploitation and racial hierarchies. Second, it highlights the significance of investigative journalism in providing a crucial empirical resource for both activists engaged in holding power to …
Unsettling West-centrism in the study of professional service firms
Over the last two decades, research on professional service firms has developed into an important subfield of management studies. In this article, I offer a postcolonial critique of this subfield. I show that it is not only built almost exclusively on studies conducted in the West but also generally presents its theorizing as though it were universal. This is despite the field being mostly focused on transnational firms. It is also despite profes…
Decolonizing international business
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to encourage scholars of international business (IB) to engage with the “decolonizing the university” project and reflect on what decolonizing might mean for IB research and education. The paper also argues that it is particularly important for IB scholars to join the decolonizing project given that the field’s main object of study – the multinational enterprise – has been central to colonialism. Design/method…
The Covid-19 pandemic: Towards a societally engaged IB perspective
Purpose This viewpoint takes up the Covid-19 pandemic as a trigger for a research agenda around societally engaged international business (IB) research. Design/methodology/approach The paper is organized as a viewpoint. First, it provides an overview of Covid-19 research in business and management and IB in particular. Second, it introduces a societally engaged IB perspective, around poverty and human rights as well as trade. Findings The paper o…
Critical Perspectives on Cross-Cultural Management
No abstract available.
In the shadow of empire: Global Britain and the UK business school
In this essay, I scrutinize the ‘Global Britain’ project championed by the UK government since the Brexit vote and reflect on the role played by business schools in it. My argument is twofold. First, I contend the project is bound up with British imperialism, being at once the expression of a melancholic attachment to the colonial Empire of yesteryear and part of a long-standing effort to renew Britain’s imperial greatness in the so-called ‘postc…
From cultural differences to cultural globalization: Towards a new research agenda in cross-cultural management studies
Purpose This paper responds to calls for a new raison d’être in the field cross-cultural management (CCM) and culture-sensitive studies of international business (IB) more broadly. It argues that one way of addressing the crisis of confidence in the field is to develop a line of inquiry focussed on corporate-driven cultural globalization. This paper also proposes a theoretical approach informed by international political economy (IPE) and postcol…
Pushing the frontiers of critical international business studies: The multinational as a neo-imperial space
Purpose – This paper aims to discuss the context- and power-sensitive approach to the study of multinationals that has emerged in the last decade, argues for the need to supplement it by a clearer focus on the wider geopolitical context in which multinationals operate and outlines the implications for the development of IB research in this area. Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides a summary overview of context- and power-sensitive st…
Struggling to organize across national borders: The case of global resource management in professional service firms
A growing body of research has challenged the commonly accepted view that multinationals have evolved into globally integrated networks, demonstrating instead that such organizations are sites of conflict between competing rationalities emerging from distinctive national institutional contexts. However, this research has neglected professional service firms (PSFs) in spite of them often being held as exemplars of the integrated network model. Thi…
Managing talent across national borders: The challenges faced by an international retail group
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of national institutional contexts on a multinational's project to develop a transnational talent management system. Design/methodology/approach The study combines a comparative analysis of British and French conceptions of management with qualitative empirical data drawn from interviews, observation and documents collected in France and the UK. Findings The concept of “talent manageme…
Decolonizing international business
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to encourage scholars of international business (IB) to engage with the “decolonizing the university” project and reflect on what decolonizing might mean for IB research and education. The paper also argues that it is particularly important for IB scholars to join the decolonizing project given that the field’s main object of study – the multinational enterprise – has been central to colonialism. Design/method…
Struggling to organize across national borders: The case of global resource management in professional service firms
A growing body of research has challenged the commonly accepted view that multinationals have evolved into globally integrated networks, demonstrating instead that such organizations are sites of conflict between competing rationalities emerging from distinctive national institutional contexts. However, this research has neglected professional service firms (PSFs) in spite of them often being held as exemplars of the integrated network model. Thi…
Unsettling West-centrism in the study of professional service firms
Over the last two decades, research on professional service firms has developed into an important subfield of management studies. In this article, I offer a postcolonial critique of this subfield. I show that it is not only built almost exclusively on studies conducted in the West but also generally presents its theorizing as though it were universal. This is despite the field being mostly focused on transnational firms. It is also despite profes…
Managing talent across national borders: The challenges faced by an international retail group
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of national institutional contexts on a multinational's project to develop a transnational talent management system. Design/methodology/approach The study combines a comparative analysis of British and French conceptions of management with qualitative empirical data drawn from interviews, observation and documents collected in France and the UK. Findings The concept of “talent manageme…
Struggling to organize across national borders: The case of global resource management in professional service firms
A growing body of research has challenged the commonly accepted view that multinationals have evolved into globally integrated networks, demonstrating instead that such organizations are sites of conflict between competing rationalities emerging from distinctive national institutional contexts. However, this research has neglected professional service firms (PSFs) in spite of them often being held as exemplars of the integrated network model. Thi…
Pushing the frontiers of critical international business studies: The multinational as a neo-imperial space
Purpose – This paper aims to discuss the context- and power-sensitive approach to the study of multinationals that has emerged in the last decade, argues for the need to supplement it by a clearer focus on the wider geopolitical context in which multinationals operate and outlines the implications for the development of IB research in this area. Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides a summary overview of context- and power-sensitive st…
Critical Perspectives on Cross-Cultural Management
No abstract available.
In the shadow of empire: Global Britain and the UK business school
In this essay, I scrutinize the ‘Global Britain’ project championed by the UK government since the Brexit vote and reflect on the role played by business schools in it. My argument is twofold. First, I contend the project is bound up with British imperialism, being at once the expression of a melancholic attachment to the colonial Empire of yesteryear and part of a long-standing effort to renew Britain’s imperial greatness in the so-called ‘postc…
From cultural differences to cultural globalization: Towards a new research agenda in cross-cultural management studies
Purpose This paper responds to calls for a new raison d’être in the field cross-cultural management (CCM) and culture-sensitive studies of international business (IB) more broadly. It argues that one way of addressing the crisis of confidence in the field is to develop a line of inquiry focussed on corporate-driven cultural globalization. This paper also proposes a theoretical approach informed by international political economy (IPE) and postcol…
The Covid-19 pandemic: Towards a societally engaged IB perspective
Purpose This viewpoint takes up the Covid-19 pandemic as a trigger for a research agenda around societally engaged international business (IB) research. Design/methodology/approach The paper is organized as a viewpoint. First, it provides an overview of Covid-19 research in business and management and IB in particular. Second, it introduces a societally engaged IB perspective, around poverty and human rights as well as trade. Findings The paper o…
Decolonizing international business
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to encourage scholars of international business (IB) to engage with the “decolonizing the university” project and reflect on what decolonizing might mean for IB research and education. The paper also argues that it is particularly important for IB scholars to join the decolonizing project given that the field’s main object of study – the multinational enterprise – has been central to colonialism. Design/method…
Unsettling West-centrism in the study of professional service firms
Over the last two decades, research on professional service firms has developed into an important subfield of management studies. In this article, I offer a postcolonial critique of this subfield. I show that it is not only built almost exclusively on studies conducted in the West but also generally presents its theorizing as though it were universal. This is despite the field being mostly focused on transnational firms. It is also despite profes…
Transnational corporate power, neo-colonialism and investigative journalism: A conversation with Matt Kennard
Purpose This viewpoint aims to contribute to understanding corporate power in two key respects. First, it provides insight into the ways in which transnational corporations continue to operate as vehicles for neo-colonial projects, which are underpinned by exploitation and racial hierarchies. Second, it highlights the significance of investigative journalism in providing a crucial empirical resource for both activists engaged in holding power to …
Englishization Beyond the Global North: Dependency, Struggle, and Resistance in Brazilian Management Research
This paper advances understanding of Englishization in management research by addressing a key limitation in the existing literature: its predominant focus on the Global North, especially Europe. Drawing on dependency theory and postcolonial theory, we examine how management academics experience and navigate Englishization in Brazil. Based on qualitative research, we found that Brazilian academics, like their European counterparts, faced growing …
Political science (9 works) · Sociology (9 works) · Law (7 works) · Law (6 works) · Social science (6 works) · International Business and FDI (5 works) · Management and Organizational Studies (5 works) · Originality (5 works) · Public relations (5 works) · Colonialism (4 works)