Context and contextualization: The extended case method in qualitative international business research

This paper advances the extended case method (ECM), a powerful context sensitive case-based research strategy that is underutilized in international business (IB). Demonstrating how the ECM offers an alternative to established case-based methods, we show how the method's core postulate of ‘outward extension’ opens new opportunities for designing, conducting, and theorizing case research suited to the contextual novelty of IB. We propose an analytical pathway to provide practical guidance on how to implement and design for contextualized explanation, examining recent studies on international practice transfer to illustrate the choices, directions and redirections made possible by extending out – i.e., contextualizing.