The management of cross-national differences is of central concern in international business (IB) and international management (IM). Thus, it is not surprising that the concept of distance which captures such differences has received much attention in this field. Lumineau, Hanisch, and Wurtz, in their Point article, seek to strengthen distance research by challenging one of its key assumptions – country level homogeneity – and advancing an alternative view of country differences based on the notion of diversity. We concur with their critique of the homogeneity assumption and with the general idea of bringing in the concept of diversity. However, our approach to this goal is substantially different. Instead of replacing distance with a diversity-based conceptualization, as they seem to propose, our emphasis is on integrating diversity into current distance research. Moving beyond critique and high-level conceptualizing, we provide a usable roadmap for incorporating diversity into distance research both theoretically and empirically. Specifically, we introduce a new construct of intra-country diversity that captures the condition of within-country differences, and then, explain how it can be used to enrich distance models, illustrating our approach with several key IB/IM topics. Empirically, we use available cross-cultural data to illustrate how to account for different degrees and patterns of intra-country diversity in distance research. Overall, our approach aims at building on, not negating, existing distance research, increasing its rigor and relevance through the concept of diversity, and helping scholars incorporate diversity into their work by providing concrete guidelines and examples.

中文翻译：

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将多样性整合到距离研究中以增加严谨性、简约性和相关性

跨国差异的管理是国际商务 (IB) 和国际管理 (IM) 的核心问题。因此，捕捉这种差异的距离概念在该领域受到广泛关注也就不足为奇了。Lumineau、Hanisch 和 Wurtz 在他们的 Point 文章中，试图通过挑战其中一个关键假设——国家层面的同质性——并提出基于多样性概念的国家差异的另一种观点来加强距离研究。我们同意他们对同质性假设的批评以及引入多样性概念的总体想法。然而，我们实现这一目标的方法却大不相同。而不是替换与基于多样性的概念化的距离，正如他们似乎提出的那样，我们的重点是将多样性整合到当前的距离研究中。超越批评和高级概念化，我们提供了一个可用的路线图来整合从理论和经验上将多样性引入远程研究。具体来说，我们引入了一个新的国家内部多样性结构，它捕捉了国家内部差异的条件，然后解释了如何使用它来丰富距离模型，用几个关键的 IB/IM 主题说明我们的方法。从经验上讲，我们使用可用的跨文化数据来说明如何在远程研究中解释国内多样性的不同程度和模式。总的来说，我们的方法旨在建立而不是否定现有的远程研究，通过多样性的概念提高其严谨性和相关性，并通过提供具体的指导方针和例子帮助学者将多样性纳入他们的工作。