Environmental Analysis in International Business Markets: Models and a Research Agenda

The gathering of environmental information for firms operating in complex and turbulent international business-to-business settings remains a challenging task. As a research area, it has usually been severely under prioritized, which is most likely due to a) the area’s separate existence from other parts of the literature, b) the area being outside-in oriented, and c) the preponderance of rather banal models, thus branding it an unimportant research area. Paradoxically this further strengthens the argument that there are unmet research needs in the form of new or better models. This article reviews and compares four types of models in order to facilitate more optimal model choices by business decision-makers. The comparison suggests that while decision-makers may find value in adopting a contingent approach where the choice of model is determined by the concrete situation, a lesser known model such as Qualitative Value Profiling (QVP) may add value to the decision process, especially if it is further developed. The article concludes with a brief research agenda