International business can be defined as the study of multinational companies.[citation needed] One of the first scholars that engaged into developing a theory towards multinational companies was Stephen Hymer. Throughout his academic life he came with theories that sought to explain how multinational companies internationalize, and in the pursue of this objective he came with the theory of foreign direct investment, and because of this he is considered the father of international business.
There were three phases in Hymers work. The first phase was his dissertation in 1960 called the International Operations of National Firms. In this thesis, Hymer departures from the neoclassical theory and opened up a new area of international production. At first Hymer started analyzing the Neoclassical theory and the financial investment wherein the main reason of capital movement is the difference in interest rates. Then he started analyzing the characteristics of foreign investment by large companies for production and direct business purposes, calling this Foreign Direct Investment. By analyzing the two types of investments Hymer distinguished the financial investment from the direct investment. The main distinguishing feature was control. Wherein portfolio investment is a more passive approach, and the main purpose is financial gain, nevertheless with foreign direct investment a firm has control over the operations abroad. So the traditional theory of investment based on differential rate does not explain FDI nor the motivations for FDI.
According to Hymer there are two main determinant of FDI wherein an imperfect market structure is the key element. The first is the firm specific advantages which are developed at the specific companies home country and, profitably, used in the foreign country. The second determinant is the removal of control wherein Hymer wrote: ‘’When firms are interconnected, they compete in selling in the same market or one of the firms may sell to the other,’’ and because of this ‘‘it may be profitable to substitute centralised decision making for decentralised decision making’’
The second phase is his neoclassical article in 1968. This paper includes theory of internationalization and explains the direction of growth of the international expansion of firms. In a later stage Hymer went to a more Marxist approach where he explains that MNC as agents of an international capitalist system causing conflict and contradictions, causing among other inequality and poverty in the world. Hymer is the father of the theory of MNE”, and explains the motivations for companies doing direct business abroad.
Dr. Hymer’s theories inspired many other scholars and researchers such as John Dunning and his OLI paradigm. Dr Hymer is considered the father of international business because he was able to come with theories that covered from neoclassical perspective to Marxism and that explained the drivers of multinational companies to grow, integrate, and invest in foreign markets which offered specific advantages.