Professor Mehdi Boussebaa

  • Professor in International Business (Management)

Biography

Professor Mehdi Boussebaa joined the Adam Smith Business School in 2016 and currently leads the International Business and Enterprise Research Cluster. He is also Associate Editor of Critical Perspectives on International Business and serves on the editorial boards of Human Relations, Journal of Management Studies, Journal of World Business, Organization Studies, and Journal of Professions and Organization. Previously, he worked at the universities of Bath and Oxford. He has also held visiting positions in Canada (Alberta), China (Tongji and UIBE), France (Aix-Marseille), and Sweden (Lund). He holds a PhD and an MA (with Distinction) from the University of Warwick. 

Mehdi's research examines diverse aspects of management in a global context, from a broadly sociological perspective. He is particularly interested in the impact of colonial legacies on the work and management of multinationals. He is well-known for his research in this area in relation to multinationals in the professional services industry. He has also conducted well-cited research on (neo-)colonial entanglements in offshore service outsourcing and, in recent years, extended his analysis to business schools and the production of management knowledge.  

Mehdi's research has been published in a wide range of leading and 'FT50' journals such as Human Relations, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of World Business, and Organization Studies, among others. Mehdi has also contributed chapters to major edited volumes such as The Oxford Handbook of Identities in Organizations (2020) and The Oxford Handbook of Professional Service Firms (2015).

Mehdi received the Dean’s Award for an Outstanding Contribution to Research at the University of Bath School of Management in 2015 (and the Dean’s Award for Research Excellence in 2012). He was also shortlisted twice (2016 and 2017) for the Col. Lyndall F Urwick Memorial Prize awarded by the Worshipful Company of Management Consultants (City of London) and was a finalist for the US Academy of Management's all-academy Carolyn Dexter Award for Best International Paper. 

Prior to joining academia, Mehdi spent 2½ years working for a leading (now defunct) US telecoms market research and consulting firm in London following undergraduate studies at Cass Business School and (as an Erasmus student) Complutense de Madrid, Spain.

Research interests

Mehdi is the lead of the International Business and Enterprise Research Cluster research cluster.

Areas of Expertise:

  • Globalisation and (neo-)colonialism
  • Corporate-driven cultural globalisation
  • The impact of globalisation on work and organisation
  • The management and organisation of multinationals
  • Professional service firms as agents of globalisation
  • Multinationals in and from the Global South
  • The geopolitics of management knowledge production
  • Postcolonial theory
  • Qualitative research 

Publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008
Number of items: 34.

2021

Boussebaa, M. and Tienari, J. (2021) Englishization and the politics of knowledge production in management studies. Journal of Management Inquiry, 30(1), pp. 59-67. (doi: 10.1177/1056492619835314)

2020

Boussebaa, M. (2020) From cultural differences to cultural globalization: towards a new research agenda in cross-cultural management studies. Critical Perspectives on International Business, (doi: 10.1108/cpoib-01-2020-0003) (Early Online Publication)

Romani, L., Boussebaa, M. and Jackson, T. (2020) Critical perspectives on cross-cultural management. In: Szkudlarek, B., Romani, L., Caprar, D. and Osland, J. (eds.) The Sage Handbook of Contemporary Cross-Cultural Management. SAGE Publications Ltd.. ISBN 9781526441324

Boussebaa, M. (2020) In the shadow of empire: Global Britain and the UK business school. Organization, 27(3), pp. 483-493. (doi: 10.1177/1350508419855700)

Boussebaa, M. (2020) Identity regulation and globalization. In: Brown, A.D. (ed.) Oxford Handbook of Identities in Organizations. Series: Oxford Handbooks. Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK. ISBN 9780198827115

McGivern, G., Nzinga, J., Boussebaa, M. and English, M. (2020) Professional pastoral work in a Kenyan clinical network: transposing transnational evidence-based governmentality. In: Bevir, M. and Waring, J. (eds.) Decentring Health and Care Networks: Reshaping the Organization and Delivery of Healthcare. Series: Organizational behaviour in healthcare. Palgrave Macmillan: Cham, pp. 239-266. ISBN 9783030408886 (doi:10.1007/978-3-030-40889-3_11)

2019

Boussebaa, M. (2019) Brexit’s ‘Global Britain’: UK needs a clear economic strategy for its trading future, not a dead colonial fantasy. Conversation, 2019(May 10),

Boussebaa, M. and Faulconbridge, J. R. (2019) Professional service firms as agents of economic globalization: a political perspective. Journal of Professions and Organization, 6(1), pp. 72-90. (doi: 10.1093/jpo/joy014)

2018

Boussebaa, M. (2018) Management Research: European Perspectives, Sabina Siebert (Ed.). Journal of International Management, 24(2), pp. 195-197. (doi: 10.1016/j.intman.2018.04.001)[Book Review]

2017

Boussebaa, M. (2017) Global professional service firms, transnational organizing and core/periphery networks. In: Seabrooke, L. and Henriksen, L. F. (eds.) Professional Networks in Transnational Governance. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, pp. 233-244. ISBN 9781107181878

Boussebaa, M. and Brown, A. D. (2017) Englishization, identity regulation and imperialism. Organization Studies, 38(1), pp. 7-29. (doi: 10.1177/0170840616655494)

Andersson, U. et al. (2017) Challenges facing contemporary multinational enterprises: Charting directions for future research on MNEs. Working Paper. Aalto University.

2016

Boussebaa, M. and Faulconbridge, J. (2016) The work of global professional service firms. In: Wilkinson, A., Hislop, D. and Coupland, C. (eds.) Perspectives on Contemporary Professional Work: Challenges and Experiences. Series: New horizons in management. Edward Elgar Publishing: Cheltenham, UK ; Northampton, MA, pp. 105-122. ISBN 9781783475575 (doi:10.4337/9781783475582.00014)

2015

Boussebaa, M. (2015) Control in the multinational enterprise: The polycentric case of global professional service firms. Journal of World Business, 50(4), pp. 696-703. (doi: 10.1016/j.jwb.2014.11.002)

Boussebaa, M. and Morgan, G. (2015) Internationalization of professional service firms. In: Empson, L., Muzio, D., Broschak, J. and Hinings, B. (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Professional Service Firms. Series: Oxford handbooks. Oxford University Press: Oxford, pp. 71-91. ISBN 9780199682393 (doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199682393.013.5)

Boussebaa, M. (2015) Professional service firms, globalisation and the new imperialism. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, 28(8), pp. 1217-1233. (doi: 10.1108/AAAJ-03-2015-1986)

2014

Boussebaa, M. , Sinha, S. and Gabriel, Y. (2014) Englishization in offshore call centers: a postcolonial perspective. Journal of International Business Studies, 45(9), pp. 1152-1169. (doi: 10.1057/jibs.2014.25)

Boussebaa, M. (2014) Offshore call centre work is breeding a new colonialism. Conversation, 2014(Oct 21),

Boussebaa, M. and Morgan, G. (2014) Pushing the frontiers of critical international business studies. Critical Perspectives on International Business, 10(1/2), pp. 96-106. (doi: 10.1108/cpoib-11-2013-0046)

Boussebaa, M. , Sturdy, A. and Morgan, G. (2014) Learning from the world? Horizontal knowledge flows and geopolitics in international consulting firms. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 25(9), pp. 1227-1242. (doi: 10.1080/09585192.2013.826711)

2012

Boussebaa, M. , Morgan, G. and Sturdy, A. (2012) Constructing global firms? National, transnational and neocolonial effects in international management consultancies. Organization Studies, 33(4), pp. 465-486. (doi: 10.1177/0170840612443454)

Taminiau, Y., Boussebaa, M. and Berghman, L. (2012) Convergence or divergence? A comparison of informal consultant–client relationship development practices in Britain, France and Germany. Service Industries Journal, 32(10), pp. 1707-1720. (doi: 10.1080/02642069.2012.665902)

Boussebaa, M. (2012) The globalisation of professional service firms (and its limits). Bath Perspective, 18, pp. 31-35.

Boussebaa, M. (2012) La construction de la multinationale “apatride”: le cas des entreprises mondiales de services professionnels. In: Mendez, A., Tchobanian, R. and Vion, A. (eds.) Travail, Compétences et Mondialisation: Les Dynamiques Sociétales en Question. Series: Armand Colin - recherches. Armand Colin: Paris. ISBN 9782200272685

Boussebaa, M. (2012) Power, conflict and control in global professional service firms. Other. Saïd Business School, Oxford.

2011

Boussebaa, M. (2011) The global organizational design of the "Big Four" [opening case]. In: Peng, M. and Meyer, K. (eds.) International Business. Cengage Learning: London : South-Western, pp. 456-457. ISBN 9781408019566

Greenwood, R., Fairclough, S., Morris, T. and Boussebaa, M. (2011) The transnational professional service firm: the rise of the multiplex PSF. Other. Saïd Business School, Oxford.

2010

Boussebaa, M. and Morgan, G. (2010) Amplifier consulting: managing a ‘global’ project [case]. In: Daft, R. L., Murphy, J. and Willmot, H. (eds.) Organization theory and design. Cengage Learning EMEA: 9781844809905, pp. 256-259. ISBN 9781844809905

Greenwood, R., Morris, T., Fairclough, S. and Boussebaa, M. (2010) The organizational design of transnational professional service firms. Organizational Dynamics, 39(2), pp. 173-183. (doi: 10.1016/j.orgdyn.2010.01.003)

2009

Spicer, A. and Boussebaa, M. (2009) Managing conflict: the curious case of neuro-linguistic programming. In: Hancock, P. and Tyler, M. (eds.) The Management of Everyday Life. Series: Palgrave critical management studies. Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke ; New York, pp. 164-178. ISBN 9780230524798

Boussebaa, M. (2009) Struggling to organize across national borders: the case of global resource management in professional service firms. Human Relations, 62(6), pp. 829-850. (doi: 10.1177/0018726709104544)

2008

Boussebaa, M. (2008) Are Consultants Simply Bluffing? Sociologie du conseil en management by Michel Villette. Editions La Decouverte, Paris, 2003. 7.95. ISBN 2707140368. Organization, 15(2), pp. 298-300. (doi: 10.1177/13505084080150020702)[Book Review]

Boussebaa, M. (2008) When the Party's Over: The Dark Side of Consulting Les Nettoyeurs by Vincent Petitet. Paris, editions Jean-Claude Lattes, 2006. 16. 248pp. ISBN 2709627302. Organization, 15(3), pp. 466-469. (doi: 10.1177/1350508408090167)[Book Review]

Boussebaa, M. and Morgan, G. (2008) Managing talent across national borders: the challenges faced by an international retail group. Critical Perspectives on International Business, 4(1), pp. 25-41. (doi: 10.1108/17422040810849749)

This list was generated on Mon Apr 19 09:19:34 2021 BST.
Jump to: Articles | Book Sections | Book Reviews | Research Reports or Papers
Number of items: 34.

Articles

Boussebaa, M. and Tienari, J. (2021) Englishization and the politics of knowledge production in management studies. Journal of Management Inquiry, 30(1), pp. 59-67. (doi: 10.1177/1056492619835314)

Boussebaa, M. (2020) From cultural differences to cultural globalization: towards a new research agenda in cross-cultural management studies. Critical Perspectives on International Business, (doi: 10.1108/cpoib-01-2020-0003) (Early Online Publication)

Boussebaa, M. (2020) In the shadow of empire: Global Britain and the UK business school. Organization, 27(3), pp. 483-493. (doi: 10.1177/1350508419855700)

Boussebaa, M. (2019) Brexit’s ‘Global Britain’: UK needs a clear economic strategy for its trading future, not a dead colonial fantasy. Conversation, 2019(May 10),

Boussebaa, M. and Faulconbridge, J. R. (2019) Professional service firms as agents of economic globalization: a political perspective. Journal of Professions and Organization, 6(1), pp. 72-90. (doi: 10.1093/jpo/joy014)

Boussebaa, M. and Brown, A. D. (2017) Englishization, identity regulation and imperialism. Organization Studies, 38(1), pp. 7-29. (doi: 10.1177/0170840616655494)

Boussebaa, M. (2015) Control in the multinational enterprise: The polycentric case of global professional service firms. Journal of World Business, 50(4), pp. 696-703. (doi: 10.1016/j.jwb.2014.11.002)

Boussebaa, M. (2015) Professional service firms, globalisation and the new imperialism. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, 28(8), pp. 1217-1233. (doi: 10.1108/AAAJ-03-2015-1986)

Boussebaa, M. , Sinha, S. and Gabriel, Y. (2014) Englishization in offshore call centers: a postcolonial perspective. Journal of International Business Studies, 45(9), pp. 1152-1169. (doi: 10.1057/jibs.2014.25)

Boussebaa, M. (2014) Offshore call centre work is breeding a new colonialism. Conversation, 2014(Oct 21),

Boussebaa, M. and Morgan, G. (2014) Pushing the frontiers of critical international business studies. Critical Perspectives on International Business, 10(1/2), pp. 96-106. (doi: 10.1108/cpoib-11-2013-0046)

Boussebaa, M. , Sturdy, A. and Morgan, G. (2014) Learning from the world? Horizontal knowledge flows and geopolitics in international consulting firms. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 25(9), pp. 1227-1242. (doi: 10.1080/09585192.2013.826711)

Boussebaa, M. , Morgan, G. and Sturdy, A. (2012) Constructing global firms? National, transnational and neocolonial effects in international management consultancies. Organization Studies, 33(4), pp. 465-486. (doi: 10.1177/0170840612443454)

Taminiau, Y., Boussebaa, M. and Berghman, L. (2012) Convergence or divergence? A comparison of informal consultant–client relationship development practices in Britain, France and Germany. Service Industries Journal, 32(10), pp. 1707-1720. (doi: 10.1080/02642069.2012.665902)

Boussebaa, M. (2012) The globalisation of professional service firms (and its limits). Bath Perspective, 18, pp. 31-35.

Greenwood, R., Morris, T., Fairclough, S. and Boussebaa, M. (2010) The organizational design of transnational professional service firms. Organizational Dynamics, 39(2), pp. 173-183. (doi: 10.1016/j.orgdyn.2010.01.003)

Boussebaa, M. (2009) Struggling to organize across national borders: the case of global resource management in professional service firms. Human Relations, 62(6), pp. 829-850. (doi: 10.1177/0018726709104544)

Boussebaa, M. and Morgan, G. (2008) Managing talent across national borders: the challenges faced by an international retail group. Critical Perspectives on International Business, 4(1), pp. 25-41. (doi: 10.1108/17422040810849749)

Book Sections

Romani, L., Boussebaa, M. and Jackson, T. (2020) Critical perspectives on cross-cultural management. In: Szkudlarek, B., Romani, L., Caprar, D. and Osland, J. (eds.) The Sage Handbook of Contemporary Cross-Cultural Management. SAGE Publications Ltd.. ISBN 9781526441324

Boussebaa, M. (2020) Identity regulation and globalization. In: Brown, A.D. (ed.) Oxford Handbook of Identities in Organizations. Series: Oxford Handbooks. Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK. ISBN 9780198827115

McGivern, G., Nzinga, J., Boussebaa, M. and English, M. (2020) Professional pastoral work in a Kenyan clinical network: transposing transnational evidence-based governmentality. In: Bevir, M. and Waring, J. (eds.) Decentring Health and Care Networks: Reshaping the Organization and Delivery of Healthcare. Series: Organizational behaviour in healthcare. Palgrave Macmillan: Cham, pp. 239-266. ISBN 9783030408886 (doi:10.1007/978-3-030-40889-3_11)

Boussebaa, M. (2017) Global professional service firms, transnational organizing and core/periphery networks. In: Seabrooke, L. and Henriksen, L. F. (eds.) Professional Networks in Transnational Governance. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, pp. 233-244. ISBN 9781107181878

Boussebaa, M. and Faulconbridge, J. (2016) The work of global professional service firms. In: Wilkinson, A., Hislop, D. and Coupland, C. (eds.) Perspectives on Contemporary Professional Work: Challenges and Experiences. Series: New horizons in management. Edward Elgar Publishing: Cheltenham, UK ; Northampton, MA, pp. 105-122. ISBN 9781783475575 (doi:10.4337/9781783475582.00014)

Boussebaa, M. and Morgan, G. (2015) Internationalization of professional service firms. In: Empson, L., Muzio, D., Broschak, J. and Hinings, B. (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Professional Service Firms. Series: Oxford handbooks. Oxford University Press: Oxford, pp. 71-91. ISBN 9780199682393 (doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199682393.013.5)

Boussebaa, M. (2012) La construction de la multinationale “apatride”: le cas des entreprises mondiales de services professionnels. In: Mendez, A., Tchobanian, R. and Vion, A. (eds.) Travail, Compétences et Mondialisation: Les Dynamiques Sociétales en Question. Series: Armand Colin - recherches. Armand Colin: Paris. ISBN 9782200272685

Boussebaa, M. (2011) The global organizational design of the "Big Four" [opening case]. In: Peng, M. and Meyer, K. (eds.) International Business. Cengage Learning: London : South-Western, pp. 456-457. ISBN 9781408019566

Boussebaa, M. and Morgan, G. (2010) Amplifier consulting: managing a ‘global’ project [case]. In: Daft, R. L., Murphy, J. and Willmot, H. (eds.) Organization theory and design. Cengage Learning EMEA: 9781844809905, pp. 256-259. ISBN 9781844809905

Spicer, A. and Boussebaa, M. (2009) Managing conflict: the curious case of neuro-linguistic programming. In: Hancock, P. and Tyler, M. (eds.) The Management of Everyday Life. Series: Palgrave critical management studies. Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke ; New York, pp. 164-178. ISBN 9780230524798

Book Reviews

Boussebaa, M. (2018) Management Research: European Perspectives, Sabina Siebert (Ed.). Journal of International Management, 24(2), pp. 195-197. (doi: 10.1016/j.intman.2018.04.001)[Book Review]

Boussebaa, M. (2008) Are Consultants Simply Bluffing? Sociologie du conseil en management by Michel Villette. Editions La Decouverte, Paris, 2003. 7.95. ISBN 2707140368. Organization, 15(2), pp. 298-300. (doi: 10.1177/13505084080150020702)[Book Review]

Boussebaa, M. (2008) When the Party's Over: The Dark Side of Consulting Les Nettoyeurs by Vincent Petitet. Paris, editions Jean-Claude Lattes, 2006. 16. 248pp. ISBN 2709627302. Organization, 15(3), pp. 466-469. (doi: 10.1177/1350508408090167)[Book Review]

Research Reports or Papers

Andersson, U. et al. (2017) Challenges facing contemporary multinational enterprises: Charting directions for future research on MNEs. Working Paper. Aalto University.

Boussebaa, M. (2012) Power, conflict and control in global professional service firms. Other. Saïd Business School, Oxford.

Greenwood, R., Fairclough, S., Morris, T. and Boussebaa, M. (2011) The transnational professional service firm: the rise of the multiplex PSF. Other. Saïd Business School, Oxford.

This list was generated on Mon Apr 19 09:19:34 2021 BST.

Grants

  • BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grant, 2020 
  • "High-end Foreign Experts Program" award, State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, Beijing, China, 2018
  • International Research Mobility Award, LabexMed, Aix-Marseille Université, France, 2016
  • Research Seed Corn Fund Award, University of Bath School of Management, 2013
  • Research Seed Corn Fund Award, University of Bath School of Management, 2011
  • Research Mobility Award, Alberta School of Business, Canada, 2009
  • Strategic Development Fund Award, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, 2009
  • Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship, Said Business School, University of Oxford, 2008-2009
  • Overseas Institutional Visit Award, ESRC, 2007

Supervision

Mehdi currently co-supervises four doctoral students at Glasgow and one at Warwick. He welcomes applications from potential students in the area of globalisation and international business and from those wanting to explore management/organisational issues in a global context. See Mehdi's 'Research Interests' section for potential topics.

  • Bristy, Jannatul Ferdous
    Sustainable entrepreneurial firms and poverty alleviation: The case of Bangladeshi micromultinationals

Teaching

Mehdi's teaching draws on the fields of international business, organisation studies, international political economy, and postcolonial studies. He has taught across all levels, from first year undergraduate to masters’ modules and doctoral training. He has delivered teaching at several institutions in the UK (Glasgow, Bath, Exeter, Warwick) and internationally (Beijing, Shanghai, Kenya, Kuwait City). His teaching is closely related to his research on corporate globalisation, the organisation of multinational enterprises and the role of professional service firms as agents of globalisation. Each year, he supervises several undergraduate, masters and MBA dissertations, and currently teaches the following courses:

  • International Management
  • Understanding Transnational Corporations

Additional information

  • Visiting Professor, University of International Business & Economics (UIBE), Beijing, China, 07/2017 - present
  • Fellow, Scaling Business in Africa (SBIA) consortium, University of Edinburgh, 10/2020 – present
  • Editorial Board Member, Human Relations, 09/2020 - present
  • Visiting Professor, University of Bath School of Management, 01/2017 - 01/2020
  • Associate Editor, Critical Perspectives on International Business, Emerald, since 01/2016
  • Editorial Board Member, Journal of World Business, since 01/2017
  • Editorial Board Member, Organization Studies, Sage Publications, since 2013
  • Editorial Board Member, Journal of Professions & Organization, Oxford University Press, since 2013
  • External Examiner, University of Edinburgh Business School, 2014-2018
  • Shortlisted for the Col. Lyndall F Urwick Memorial Prize, Worshipful Company of Management Consultants, 2017
  • Research Fellow, Said Business School, University of Oxford, 2009-2018
  • Invited LabexMed Scholar, Aix-Marseille Université Aix-en-Provence, France, May 2016
  • Shortlisted for the Col. Lyndall F Urwick Memorial Prize, Worshipful Company of Management Consultants, 2016
  • Dean’s Award for an Outstanding Contribution to Research, University of Bath School of Management, 2015
  • Invited Visiting Professor, University of Tongji School of Management & Economics, Shanghai, China, September 2014
  • Invited Scholar, University of Lund School of Economics & Management, Sweden, May 2014
  • Finalist for the Carolyn Dexter Award for Best International Paper, US Academy of Management (All-Academy Award), 2014
  • Invited Scholar, Laboratoire d’Economie et de Sociologie du Travail (LEST), Aix-Marseille Université, Aix-en-Provence, May-June 2013
  • Dean’s Award for Research Excellence, University of Bath School of Management, 2012
  • Dean’s Award for Innovation & Enterprise, University of Bath School of Management, 2011
  • Invited Post-Doctoral Researcher, Alberta School of Business, Canada, 2009

Mehdi Boussebaa, Professor in International Business