Late Professor Emeritus Ernest W.(Bill) Ogram, Jr., of Georgia State University served as the first editor in chief (1970-1975) of Journal of International Business Studies (JIBS), the flagship journal in the field of International Business. An economics Ph.D. graduate of the University of Illinois, Bill joined the business faculty at Georgia State University (GSU) in 1959. His interest in international Business and Economics fostered his initial membership in the AEIB (Association for Education in International Business, the predecessor of today's Academy of International Business (AIB), and the creation of GSU's Institute of International Business - one of America's first tenure track faculty organizations in International Business. Bill's commitment to International Business was exemplified in the team he built at GSU, including John Daniels, Duane Kujawa, José de la Torre, and Jeff Arpan who went on to build outstanding IB departments in IU, UCLA, USC, and would serve as presidents of the AIB.
To celebrate his legacy, GSU is bringing together five scholar leaders in international business, current and past editors of JIBS- Paul Beamish (Ivey), Lorraine Eden (Texas A&M), Arie Lewin (Duke), Alain Verbeke (Calgary), and Rosalie Tung (Simon Fraser) to discuss the evolution of IB scholarship, its impact, and its future.

Discussion Questions/Takeaways:

1. How has the IB scholarship grown over the decades since its inception in the 1960's? What has been the impact of this scholarship?
2. What have been the overarching lessons that editors have taken from their tenure as they reflect on the past?
3. What are the important future challenges that IB scholarship and what are some untrodden paths that IB scholarship should focus on to shape the future of global business?