Dear friends and colleagues,
It is time to wrap up your paper and submit it to the Global Strategy Journal Special Issue on GLOBAL INNOVATION IN AN ERA OF DISRUPTIVE CHANGES.
The submission system opens on September 15, 2025.
The deadline for submission is September 30, 2025.
Please find below the Special Issue call below
We look forward to receiving your paper!
Call for Papers
Special Issue of GLOBAL STRATEGY JOURNAL
GLOBAL INNOVATION IN AN ERA OF DISRUPTIVE CHANGES
Special Issue editors
Peter J. Buckley, Alliance Manchester Business School, peter.buckley-2@manchester.ac.uk
Mario Kafouros, Alliance Manchester Business School, marios.kafouros@manchester.ac.uk
Marianna Marra, University of Sussex Business School, M.Marra@sussex.ac.uk
Shasha Zhao, University of Surrey Business School, shasha.zhao@surrey.ac.uk
Minyuan Zhao, Washington University in St. Louis, minyuan@wustl.edu
GSJ supervising editors
Grazia D. Santangelo, Copenhagen Business School, gs.si@cbs.dk
Srividya Jandhyala, ESSEC Business School, jandhyala@essec.edu
Submission Deadline September 30, 2025
Background
The magnitude and breadth of two unprecedented disruptions across the globe are significantly affecting the innovation activities and strategies of multinational enterprises (MNEs): (1) the advent of digital innovations such as blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, cloud and quantum computing, and the internet of things (IoT), and (2) the growing geopolitical tensions between major economies that are redefining the international competitive landscape. These disruptions are affecting how MNEs create and appropriate value from their innovation activities, including R&D and non-R&D activities as well as business models (Buckley, 2022; Furr, Ozcan & Eisenhardt, 2022). Although the global strategy literature has asserted that MNEs must constantly reconfigure themselves and strategically realign their innovation efforts to capture and synthesize globally dispersed knowledge (Autio et al., 2021; Zhao et al., 2022) across different countries and appropriability regimes (Koval et al., 2024; Mavroudi et al., 2023), these disruptive changes influence the viability and effectiveness of such firm strategies.
The two disruptions are intertwined. The rapid technological advancement of digital innovation is reshaping the power of MNEs, their business models, and the way they innovate (Bouncken & Barwinski, 2021; Dilyard, Zhao & You, 2021; Khan, Zeng, Knight, Rajwani & Pattnaik, 2023; Stallkamp & Schotter, 2021; Sturgeon, 2021). The rising geopolitical tensions among the major economies are exacerbated by the acceleration of techno-nationalism, as seen in the US-China case (Lubinski & Wadhwani, 2020; Luo & Witt, 2021; Wang, Weiner, & Jandhyala, 2021). While global strategy scholars have recently started to recognize the disruptive nature of digital technology development and the importance of the 'techno-nationalist' perspective for theorizing global innovation (Aguilera, Henisz, Oxley, & Shaver, 2019; Luo, 2022), this line of inquiry remains nascent.
MNEs are particularly susceptible to these disruptive changes due to their geographically dispersed activities. MNEs are known for their ability to collaborate with international partners, engage in various forms of knowledge sourcing and creation (such as strategic alliances and acquisitions), transfer and diffuse knowledge across borders, and operate in different appropriability regimes that vary in their effectiveness to protect intellectual property (Buckley et al., 2014; Kafouros et al., 2022; Zhao, 2006). Disruptive changes fundamentally alter the value of such capabilities, change R&D configurations, and shift the technological trajectories and business models. Nevertheless, disruptive changes also bring new opportunities to MNEs that highlight their unique resilience against shocks (Puhr & Müllner, 2022) and their ability to re-invent their global innovation strategies.
Aims and Scope
The purpose of this special issue is to shed light on disruptive technological and geopolitical changes that require MNEs to reassess the organization of innovation in the global context and its interaction with their strategies (Casson, 2022; Friedmann & Pedersen, 2024; Santangelo et al., 2016). We seek papers that examine the role of the context and contextual characteristics on the behavior of MNEs engaging in R&D, technological, and business model innovation in order to manage new dynamics and stay competitive in the face of disruptive changes (Roulet & Bothello, 2023). In providing a re-evaluation of existing theories and a closer empirical examination of related topics, the special issue aims to advance our understanding of the factors that shape MNEs' global management of innovation, strategies and structures. By examining the new dynamics of MNE innovation in the global context and their strategies and strategic management, the Special Issue also intends to offer pragmatic recommendations for managers and policymakers to help navigate global disruptions.
The following topics represent a non-exhaustive list of suggested directions:
· How do disruptive technological and geopolitical changes affect (a) the geographical configuration of innovation, (b) markets for technology, (c) MNEs' formal and informal innovation networks, and (d) value creation and appropriation by MNEs?
· How do geopolitical tensions and the advent of AI and machine learning affect scientists' mobility across organizational and geographical borders? What are the implications for MNEs' human capital, knowledge sourcing, and collaboration strategies?
· How does the advent of digital innovation (e.g., new algorithms, robotics, AI and machine learning, blockchain, IoT) affect (a) organizational learning for MNE innovation, (b) the strategy and strategic management of MNEs' innovation and (c) the way in which MNEs create new technologies across different countries?
· What conceptual frameworks and theories advance our understanding of the determinants and effects of global innovation and strategic management of MNEs in a global context featuring major technological and geopolitical disruptions?
· How does the advent of digital innovation alter the roles of government agencies and civil society actors in influencing MNEs' global innovation strategies?
· How will nationalist and protectionist policies affect value creation and appropriation by MNEs that originate from different parts of the world? How do political ideologies matter? What knowledge protection and sourcing strategies can MNEs deploy across borders?
We invite submissions of both theoretical and empirical papers. We do not have specific theoretical or methodological preferences. For empirical studies, we welcome high-quality qualitatively oriented papers and quantitatively oriented papers, as well as papers using mixed methods.
Deadlines and submission process
Authors should submit their manuscripts between September 15 and 30, 2025, via the Global Strategy Journal submission system at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/gsj. To ensure that all manuscripts are identified correctly for consideration for this Special Issue, please click the "Special Issue Article" when selecting the "Article Type." Manuscripts should be prepared in accordance with Global Strategy Journal's Guide for Authors, available at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/pb-assets/assets/20425805/GSJ%20Author%20Instructions%20May%202023-1686755225130.pdf. All submissions will go through the journal's double-blind review process.
The editors' team plans to host a paper development workshop (PDW) at the 2025 Academy of Management conference in Copenhagen to discuss ideas for papers to be submitted to the special issue. Participation in the PDW is neither a requirement nor a promise of final acceptance of the paper.
Questions regarding the Special Issue should be directed to the Special Issue editors.
References
Aguilera, R., Henisz, W., Oxley, J. E., & Shaver, J. M. (2019). Special issue introduction: International strategy in an era of global flux. Strategy Science, 4(2), 61-69.
Autio, E., Mudambi, R., & Yoo, Y. (2021). Digitalization and globalization in a turbulent world: Centrifugal and centripetal forces. Global Strategy Journal, 11(1), 3-16.
Bouncken, R., & Barwinski, R. (2021). Shared digital identity and rich knowledge ties in global 3D printing-A drizzle in the clouds?. Global Strategy Journal, 11(1), 81-108.
Buckley, P. J. (2022). Navigating three vectors of power: Global strategy in a world of intense competition, aggressive nation states, and antagonistic civil society. Global Strategy Journal, 12(3), 543-554.
Buckley, P. J., Elia, S. & Kafouros, M. (2014) Acquisitions by emerging market multinationals: Implications for firm performance. Journal of World Business, 49(4), 611-632.
Casson, M. (2022). Extending internalization theory: Integrating international business strategy with international management. Global Strategy Journal, 12(4), 632-657.
Dilyard, J., Zhao, S., & You, J. J. (2021). Digital innovation and Industry 4.0 for global value chain resilience: Lessons learned and ways forward. Thunderbird International Business Review, 63(5), 577-584.
Friedmann, J. C., & Pedersen, T. (2024). National innovation policies and knowledge acquisition in international alliances. Global Strategy Journal, 14(1), 116-151.
Furr, N., Ozcan, P., & Eisenhardt, K. M. (2022). What is digital transformation? Core tensions facing established companies on the global stage. Global Strategy Journal, 12(4), 595-618.
Khan, Z., Zeng, J., Knight, G., Rajwani, T., & Pattnaik, C. (2023). Non-market strategies and disruptive innovation in the platform economy. Journal of International Management, 29(5), 101047.
Kafouros, M., Hashai, N., Tardios, J. A., & Wang, E. Y. (2022). How do MNEs invent? An invention-based perspective of MNE profitability. Journal of International Business Studies, 53(7), 1420-1448.
Koval., M., Iurkov, V., & Benito, G.R.G. (2024). The interplay of international alliance and subsidiary portfolios: Implications for firms' innovation and financial performance. Journal of World Business, 59(1), 101500.
Lubinski, C., & Wadhwani, R.D. 2020. Geopolitical jockeying: Economic nationalism and multinational strategy in historical perspective. Strategic Management Journal, 41(3), 400-421.
Luo, Y. (2022). Illusions of techno-nationalism. Journal of International Business Studies, 53(3), 550-567.
Luo, Y., & Witt, M. A. (2022). Springboard MNEs under de-globalization. Journal of International Business Studies, 53(4), 767-780.
Mavroudi, E., Kafouros, M., Jia, F., & Hong, J. (2023). How can MNEs benefit from internationalizing their R&D across countries with both weak and strong IPR protection? Journal of International Management, 29(1), 100994.
Puhr, H. & Müllner, J. (2022) Foreign to all but fluent in many: The effect of multinationality on shock resilience. Journal of World Business, 57(6), 101370.
Roulet, T., & Bothello, J. (2023) An event-system perspective on disruption: Theorizing the pandemic and other discontinuities through historical and fictional accounts of the plague. Academy of Management Review, 48(4), 772-789.
Santangelo, G. D., Meyer, K. E., & Jindra, B. (2016). MNE subsidiaries' outsourcing and insourcing of R&D: The role of local institutions. Global Strategy Journal, 6(4), 247-268.
Stallkamp, M., & Schotter, A. P. (2021). Platforms without borders? The international strategies of digital platform firms. Global Strategy Journal, 11(1), 58-80.
Sturgeon, T. J. (2021). Upgrading strategies for the digital economy. Global Strategy Journal, 11(1), 34-57.
Wang, D., Weiner, R. J., Li, Q., & Jandhyala, S. (2021). Leviathan as foreign investor: Geopolitics and sovereign wealth funds. Journal of International Business Studies, 52(7), 1238-1255.
Zhao, M. (2006) Conducting R&D in countries with weak intellectual property rights protection. Management Science, 56 (7), 1185–1199.
Zhao, S., Liu, X., Andersson, U., & Shenkar, O. (2022). Knowledge management of emerging economy multinationals. Journal of World Business, 57(1), 101255.
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Grazia Santangelo
Professor
Copenhagen Business School
Copenhagen
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