Please note that the meeting has been moved to Stockholm, Sweden. The Call for Papers has been left in its original form, and therefore refers to Istanbul.

Istanbul couldn't be a more ideal venue to hold the 2004 annual meeting of the Academy of International Business. For centuries it has been a crossroads - a place where people of different nationalities, religions, and cultures have met and engaged in exchange. Turkey, that enigma of a secular democracy in a majority Islamic population, with strong ties to Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East, is a place where the AIB will find a perfect venue to grapple with today's pressing and important issues. As a literal and metaphoric bridge between East and West, meeting in Istanbul suggests a conference theme with a focus on bridging as a vehicle for creating dialogues leading to understanding.

Current history also seems to be calling out for more and better dialogue, and stronger yet flexible bridges. Will the 21st century be a celebration of one world and many cultures, or will it mark the end of civilization? How the dialogue gets framed will strongly influence whether society enters a new renaissance or the painful denouement of civilization as we enjoy it today. As scholars, we have the opportunity and responsibility to frame the conversations the world has about issues that matter. What kinds of critical dialogues are needed in international business? How can we make a difference, both in the development of our field and to understanding in our world? Join us in Istanbul and help us frame the 21st century's conversation about global issues and international business.

The theme, Bridging with the Other, draws our attention to under-examined locales, rarely heard voices, and under-represented scholarly perspectives in international business. Which dialogues are missing that would inform your research and theorizing? Who would you invite if you wanted to hold conversations about your research with the best thinkers in the world? Who should be coming to AIB meetings, but never or seldom attends? While open to all of your best work, this year's conference seeks to encourage symposia and paper offerings that build bridges by:

• Increasing participation from social sciences that have played an important role in the development of International Business, but are recently rarely in evidence at our annual meetings. Papers and symposia that include scholars from history, anthropology, sociology, political science, psychology, law and comparative religion are particularly welcome.
• Interdisciplinary papers and panels with a focus on multiple levels of analysis are eagerly sought.
• Papers and symposia that include scholars from diverse locations and backgrounds are particularly encouraged, as the best way to foster cross-border dialogue is to include individuals from a range of backgrounds.
• Panels with executive contributors or discussants, to build bridges between IB scholars and IB practitioners.

The theme, "Bridging with the Other: The Importance of Dialogue in International Business" encourages sessions that integrate across levels of analysis and fields of inquiry in novel ways. For example,

• Can a historical appreciation of the development of Western management practices lend insights to debates in the Islamic world for a form of capitalism that respects Islamic values? Does it make sense to speak of an Islamic style of management or "Islamic Banking" more so than a Christian style of management? What role has Buddhism and Confucianism played in the development of India and China? Should we seek to expand our study of culture and its impact in organizations to include religious values?
• Global strategy research has focused almost exclusively on multinational corporations (MNCs) from developed countries. Yet increasingly, we are seeing MNCs emerge from other parts of the world-South Africa, China, India. How can we foster research to re-examine our theories of MNC strategy from the perspective of these MNCs that come with a completely different institutional heritage?

• How should IB research reflect the increased appreciation of the institutional environment, and the growing realization that key institutions are often lacking in emerging economies?
• If the bottom of the pyramid is the ideal locale to launch disruptive innovations (see Hart, 2003), and if innovation is increasingly occurring in the periphery of the company-both geographically and culturally; and sometimes even outside the multinational company (Birkinshaw, 2003), what does this mean for how and where we conduct strategy research?
• Given that "valuable knowledge does not travel well" (Doz, 2003), how can we increase our understanding of the complex cultural realities of multinational work teams to truly allow them to play their bridging function across the multinational enterprise? Can recent developments in anthropology and technology better inform cross-cultural management research?
• Is there a need to rebuild bridges back both to the social sciences and to the business functions (Cavusgil, 2003)? Has IB research focused too much attention on the firm and not enough attention on its attendant components? How can we better understand societal transformations in various markets and chart targeting/segmentation/positioning strategies in light of that understanding? Can we blend the knowledge bases in psychology, sociology, and anthropology with that in, for example, marketing toward these ends?
• Is history and culture still important as firms seek capital globally and expand control systems globally? Is there a pax Americana developing in the area of financial reporting and regulation? Given the apparent failure of the US system, what should be happening? What is the future of corporate governance? Do regions that are less integrated into the global financial market offer opportunities for expansion or minefields to be avoided?

Building bridges is best done through dialogue. To the extent possible, this year's conference will emphasize interactive sessions, where the audience has more than a passive role and where the presenters seek to build on each other's contributions. The program committee hopes for sessions that foster open discourse among and across the traditional areas of international business.

As scholars, we have the opportunity and responsibility to frame the conversations the world has about issues that matter.

This year we also seek to begin a pre-conference, Professional Development Program, to be held on Saturday, July 10. The PDP portion of the conference will be devoted to hands-on workshops that require more than the typical time allotted during the regular conference. These sessions may be teaching or research oriented-but we anticipate that their focus will be on skill building for our members (e.g. research methods workshops, teaching methods and pedagogical innovations workshops).

Papers and panel submissions are categorized into seven tracks. Each paper or panel proposal must be submitted to only one track. Select the track closest to your proposal from the list below. Conference theme: Please note we do not have a separate track for the conference theme. Rather than separating a "bridges track" we hope that most of the sessions across the program will incorporate the theme. Each track chair will nominate a session from his or her track for special recognition as an example of creative bridging and/or critical dialogues.

1. The Context of International Business: International Political Economy, Business History, Law and Ethics (Hildy Teegen, George Washington University, teegen@gwu.edu )
2. International Economics, Finance, Accounting & Tax (Stephen Salter, University of Cincinnati, saltersb@email.uc.edu)
3. New Institutional Environments: Emerging Markets and Transition Economies (Sumit Kundu, Florida International University, sumit.kundu@fiu.edu)
4. Modes of Expansion and Operation Abroad: International Alliances and Networks (Ben Gomes-Casseres, Brandeis University, bgc@brandeis.edu)
5. Competing Across Countries: International Strategic Management (Nick Athanassiou, Northeastern University, n.athanassiou@neu.edu & Steve Tallman, University of Utah, mgtsbt@business.utah.edu )
6. Managing Across Countries: Organization Theory, Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management (Allan Bird, University of Missouri, abird@umsl.edu; and Martha Maznevski, IMD, Martha.maznevski@imd.ch)
7. Buying and Selling Across Countries: Marketing and Supply Chain Management (Esra Gencturk, Koc University, egencturk@ku.edu.tr and Attila Yaprak, Wayne State University, attila.yaprak@wayne.edu)
8. Pre-Conference Professional Development Programs
   1. AIB/JIBS Paper Development Workshop [Call for Papers] (Tatiana Kostova, University of South Carolina, kostova@sc.edu)
   2. Teaching Roundtables (Maggi Phillips, Pepperdine University, margaret.phillips@pepperdine.edu)
   3. Other Pre-conference Workshops and Panels (Sue Feinberg, University of Maryland, feinberg@glue.umd.edu)

Note this year we are initiating a new process of submitting proposals directly to each track via the webpage submission form at http://www.cbs.dk/aib2004/. Submission system will open on November 1, 2003. All manuscripts and proposals must be submitted by January 15, 2003 (extended) in your time zone. Please refer to the detailed submission instructions for further information.

Please direct any questions to the track chairs or Program Chair, Nakiye Boyacigiller, at aib2004@sabanciuniv.edu .

I look forward to receiving your submissions and to seeing you in Istanbul!

Dr. Nakiye Boyacigiller

Program Chair, AIB 2004 Annual Meeting
Dean, Graduate School of Management
Sabanci University
aib2004@sabanciuniv.edu

Citations to the work of Tamer Cavusgil, Yves Doz and Stuart Hart, are from their presentations at the JIBS First Annual Conference on Emerging Research Frontiers in International Business, Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, March 6-9, 2003. Reference to Julian Birkinshaw was from a private communication. Thanks to the 2004 and 2003 track chairs and Nancy Adler, Mary Yoko Brannen, Peter Buckley, and Julian Birkinshaw for feedback on an earlier version of this call.