Dear AIB Colleagues,
I am excited to inform you about the newest Shared Interest Group (SIG) to be established within the Academy of International Business: the Digitalization-SIG (D-SIG).
Why We Need this SIG: Digitalization is changing the nature of international business. Digital technologies are creating asset-light internationalization strategy, making platforms and ecosystems a critical enabler. Despite these positive developments, there are still lingering concerns. While digitalization can help firms and countries to leapfrog, the persisting digital divide across the globe can exacerbate existing inequalities. Data privacy and cybersecurity are also growing concerns.
For AIB’s membership, digitalization has emerged as one of the most important ‘winds of change’ in the field. To address the new challenges this will pose to IB scholarship, teaching, policy, and business practice, we need new constellations of scholars who can collaborate across national and disciplinary boundaries. D-SIG is intended to serve as the “intellectual center of gravity” for members to learn from each other and advance our collective competency in this area.
Our Mission: Inspire and enable AIB members to successfully adapt to the challenges of digitalization in IB by advancing and applying new theories, data, and methodologies.
Our Goals:
- Serve as a hub for scholars currently working on or interested in the intersection of digital and global strategies
- Enable knowledge exchange between scholars within different geographic locations to promote more diverse and inclusive perspectives on digital globalization.
- Focus on capacity-building in research, teaching, public policy, and practice.
- Act as a resource for local AIB chapters interested in creating digitalization tracks.
- Support other SIGs looking to incorporate the effects of digital technologies into their arena.
How to Get Involved: The SIG had its informal kickoff at the 2023 AIB Annual Meeting in Warsaw. A formal kickoff is being planned for early December. A dedicated website for D-SIG is under development and should be accessible to all AIB members by 30 September.
If your research interests are in this area, or if you would like to join our SIG to familiarize yourself with this area of research, please contact me at cdhanaraj@gsu.edu to confirm your interest in receiving updates on our future activities. Current AIB members may also indicate their willingness to serve as volunteers on our SIG leadership team.
The following members of our SIG leadership team are scouting for opportunities to serve across all of AIB’s regional chapter events:
- Charles Dhanaraj, Georgia State University, cdhanaraj@gsu.edu
- Ellie Banalieva, Northeastern University, Banalieva@northeastern.edu
- Noman Shaheer, University of Sydney, shaheer@sydney.edu.au
- David Schulzmann, Leeds University, d.schulzmann@leeds.ac.uk
- Salma Soliman, University of London, Soliman@gold.ac.uk
- Liang Chen, Singapore Management University, liangchen@smu.edu.sg
- Fernanda Cahen, ESPM Business School, cahen@espm.br
The D-SIG is planning to showcase programming at upcoming AIB chapter conferences in the USA, Canada, Oceania, MENA, Asia Pacific, and India. In Spring 2024, we are also planning for a series of research seminars, teaching workshops, policy debates, and practitioner interviews. We look forward to collaborating with you very soon.
Charles Dhanaraj
Chair, Digitalization SIG
