International Business: A Critical Approach

Offering a forward-looking and critical approach to International Business, this textbook demonstrates how multinational enterprises (MNEs) shape and are shaped by a rapidly changing global environment. Bringing together established theories, emerging critical perspectives, and interdisciplinary insights, the book equips students to understand contemporary MNEs' strategies, the roles and interests of key actors, and the geographic and firm-level structures of international business activity. Through rich real-world examples, integrative case studies, themed boxes, and review questions, the book bridges theory and practice, fostering deeper engagement and reflective learning. Students are encouraged not only to analyse international business phenomena, but also to consider their ethical, social, environmental, and political consequences. Instructors have access to adaptable teaching resources, including lecture slides, discussion guides, and sample answers. Written for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, International Business: A Critical Approach prepares future managers, researchers, and policymakers to understand, interrogate, and responsibly shape global business.

Florian Becker-Ritterspach is Professor of Organization at the Berlin University of Applied Sciences (HTW Berlin). He has held senior academic and leadership positions at the German University in Cairo and has been Founding Dean of the Faculty of Business at the German International University in Cairo since 2019. His research and teaching focus on international management, intercultural management, organization theory, emerging markets, and airline business models.

Christoph Dörrenbächer is Professor of Organizational Design and Behaviour in International Business at the Berlin School of Economics and Law. He previously worked as a consultant, a research fellow, and held visiting appointments at institutions across Europe. For over a decade, he was Co-Editor-in-Chief of Critical Perspectives on International Business and is now Senior Editor. His research and teaching focus on international business, international strategy, headquarters-subsidiary relationships, and MNE careers from a critical management perspective.

Lutz Preuss is Professor of International Business at Kedge Business School. He previously held professorial appointments at the University of Sussex and the University of East Anglia, as well as junior positions at Royal Holloway University of London and Heriot-Watt University. His research addresses topics in the field of corporate sustainability, in particular cognitive processes underlying decision-making in the face of tensions between economic and non-economic issues. His work has been published in leading academic journals, including Academy of Management Review, Organizations Studies, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of World Business and Journal of Business Ethics.