Advancing Theory Development in Emerging and Frontier Markets: Embracing Indigenous and Historical Perspectives in International Business Scholarship

Abstract

Existing international business theories primarily focus on developed markets, prompting calls to use emerging and frontier markets as laboratories for theory development. These markets’ distinct cultural and institutional settings offer opportunities for novel theories. However, there has been limited theory development in these contexts. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the challenges associated with theory development in emerging and frontier markets and provide guidance on effectively building theories using these contexts. It proposes embracing indigenous and historical theorizing to gain profound insights specific to each context and offers practical guidance for developing novel theories.