View article

The appearance of a major work of survey and synthesis, which goes into successive editions (Caves 1996), is a clear sign that a subject has reached maturity. Maturity can sometimes indicate stagnation, however, and so the question naturally arises as to whether stagnation has set in to international business research. Caves’ second edition is an encyclopaedic work, but it is very much like the first edition in its general structure. Only the details have been modified in the light of recent research. This paper argues that any impression of stagnation is misleading: rather than quibble over a number of minor details of Caves’ exposition, it makes a single substantive point. It identifies a new research agenda for modelling multinational enterprises (MNEs) which is not fully reflected in Caves’ work. This agenda has emerged over the last ten years. It is difficult to recognize because its various components have not yet …