A contemporary challenge for the international business (IB) field is to maintain a link between the global activity of firms and the local concerns of regions and communities. In this essay, we reflect on how the IB scholarship of the late Stephen Young, which was embedded in (but not confined to) Scotland, offers valuable insight into how this might be done. With an overarching interest in the role of IB in economic development, the common thread in his work on multinational enterprise (MNE) subsidiaries and internationalizing small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is the significance of locally relevant entrepreneurial behavior in internationalized firms, which we refer to as “the local roots of global entrepreneurship”. We highlight three facets of his work: (1) the scholarly approach, which was sustained, engaged, and broad-based, (2) the conceptual ideas around the purpose, process and people involved in MNEs and SMEs, and (3) the resonance of these ideas with contemporary IB topics. Our analysis indicates that the emergent body of work on cooperation between MNEs and SMEs (especially new ventures) constitutes an extension and integration of Young’s IB scholarship. An overall implication of our essay is that perhaps, counterintuitively, the future interests of IB research may be served well by paying closer attention to one’s own backyard.

国际商务 (IB) 领域的当代挑战是保持公司的全球活动与地区和社区的当地关注点之间的联系。在这篇文章中，我们反思了已故斯蒂芬杨的 IB 奖学金，它嵌入（但不限于）苏格兰，如何为如何做到这一点提供有价值的见解。凭借对 IB 在经济发展中的作用的总体兴趣，他在跨国企业 (MNE) 子公司和国际化中小型企业 (SME) 工作中的共同点是国际化公司中与当地相关的创业行为的重要性，我们称之为“全球创业的本土根源”。我们强调他工作的三个方面：（1）学术方法，它是持续的、参与的和广泛的，(2) 围绕跨国公司和中小企业所涉及的目的、流程和人员的概念性想法，以及 (3) 这些想法与当代 IB 主题的共鸣。我们的分析表明，新兴的跨国公司和中小企业（尤其是新企业）合作的工作构成了杨的 IB 奖学金的延伸和整合。我们文章的总体含义是，也许，与直觉相反，通过更密切地关注自己的后院，可能会很好地满足 IB 研究的未来兴趣。