International Business Seminar: Professor Peter Liesch

International Entrepreneurship: An Internationalisation Phenomenon or a New Field

A new field, international entrepreneurship, was spawned following the discovery that some firms internationalised soon after inception and accelerated their internationalisation.  This internationalisation trajectory appeared inconsistent with that theorised, at the time, within the field of international business.  Is a new field necessary to accommodate scholarly interest in the internationalising patterns and behaviours of these firms and of any others that may emerge?  This presentation traces the evolution of the field of international business and concludes that a new field is not needed, but that we should be more demanding of our existing theory on firm internationalisation. 

Professor Peter Liesch

Peter Liesch is Professor of International Business at UQ Business School. His Ph.D was awarded by The University of Queensland, completed through the School of Economics. He is a Professional Member of the Economics Society of Australia (Qld Inc.) and a Fellow of the AIM, now IML. He has served as VP (Admin) of the Academy of International Business, and with the Australia and New Zealand International Business Academy. He has been Head of School of Management at both UTas and UQ. He is an Area Editor with the Journal of International Business Studies and the Australian Journal of Management, and is on other IB journal editorial boards. He has published widely in all of the mainstream international business journals, and outside of the international business field, held ARC grants, and served in various capacities such as the UQ Academic Board and its Standing Committee.