Dear members of the OMT list,
Before the longed for and well deserved vacation time, I was wondering if I may ask for your opinion on the following OMT issue.
I am currently trying to define a topic on which there is no consensus on how to define it (still a challenge known from many other fields). Theorizing is difficult as the body of knowledge so far has been extremely Western-centric and our empirical evidence suggest that in developing countries, the foundations of the concepts differ. As if that wasn't enough of a challenge, we have additional drivers of complexity to digest in a developing country setting:
- foreign MNCs bring along their solutions
- local, but internationalizing companies may or may not adapt to international standards
- as the developing country will rapidly develop, the construct is likley to change its meaning yet again
These are the problems on an abstract level. More precisely, I am talking about CSR in India. Foreign MNCs bring along their global expertise to a new territorry, local firms have good solutions but seem to adapt to international standards, resulting in a cacophony of approaches and bizarre dynamics.
Now, my question to you is whether you know from other fields or phenomena insights, academic sources and solutions on how to deal with fast-moving constructs and the theorizing process on them. Are there any lessons to be learned from other, previous emerging phenomena?
I would greatly appreciate you hints and thoughts and of course would compile a "best of/compiliation" of the answers for the interested members of the list.
Thank you for your much appreciated response and best season's greetings,
Wolfgang Amann
Henley Mgt. College.