John Harry Dunning

Who was John Harry Dunning?

John Harry Dunning, OBE was a British economist and is widely recognized as the father of the field of international business. He researched the economics of international direct investment and the multinational enterprise from the 1950s until his death. In the 1980s, he published the eclectic paradigm or OLI-Model/Framework as further development on Internalization theory. OLI remains the predominant theoretical perspective to study international business activities, notably foreign direct investment and multinational enterprises. His first book, American Investment in British Manufacturing Industry, is the first seminal work in the international business field.

Dunning died on January 29, 2009, a year after being diagnosed with cancer. In the same year, Journal of International Business Studies, the most prestigious academic journal in international business, commented, "John Dunning is widely recognized as the father of the field of international business. " and "Today, John's influence is demonstrated by a citation count on Google Scholar of over 30,000, many times that of any other scholar in the field of international business.".