Laurier professor Nicole Coviello named Fellow of prestigious Academy of International Business

July 15, 2020

Wilfrid Laurier University Professor Nicole Coviello has been inducted to the Academy of International Business (AIB) as a Fellow, joining a select group of distinguished scholars who have been recognized for their outstanding contributions to the AIB and the international business field as a whole. Coviello is the Lazaridis Chair in International Entrepreneurship and Innovation and a professor of marketing in the Lazaridis School of Business and Economics.

AIB is the leading association of international business scholars and specialists in the world. Established in 1959, with more than 3,400 members across 72 countries, it aims to “create, nurture, and empower a global community of scholars focused on creating, advancing, and disseminating knowledge in international business research, education, policy, and practice.” AIB’s goals are timely in today’s climate as it seeks to “contribute to a more prosperous, just, and sustainable world by fostering a global, collaborative community of international business scholars, educators, and decision‐makers.” Currently, there are 116 AIB Fellows, 22 per cent of whom are women.

“Professor Coviello continues to inspire with her achievements,” said Micheál J. Kelly, dean of the Lazaridis School. “In becoming an AIB fellow, she now joins the ranks of a select few scholars from across the globe who produce leading-edge research in the field of international business. This will not only provide Nicole with a platform to build on her own research portfolio of marketing, international business and entrepreneurship, but also affiliate Laurier and the Lazaridis School with a distinguished association that publishes one of the most reputable journals for business and management.”

Coviello’s curriculum vitae is considerable. As the one of the co-founders of the Lazaridis Institute for the Management of Technology Enterprises, Coviello has led research projects to investigate the key issues facing managers of growing technology firms. One of the core challenges pertains to international expansion. In her previous role as the Lazaridis Institute Research Director, she built a global network of scholars to join Lazaridis faculty in conducting research that is informative for high-growth technology companies. During her career, she has published in the No. 1 ranked journals in not only international business, but marketing and entrepreneurship.

For the past 10 years, Coviello has been the Associate Editor of the leading entrepreneurship journal: Journal of Business Venturing (JBV). At JBV, she has responsibility for research in international entrepreneurship and research at the marketing/entrepreneurship interface. Coviello is also a Consulting Editor at the Journal of International Business Studies. This is the world’s premiere journal for international business research and AIB’s flagship publication.

“I feel very honoured to be named an AIB Fellow,” said Coviello. “This is a group that is very active and engaged with international business scholarship—I’m looking forward to serving with them. I’m particularly proud that Laurier has joined the list of home institutions for the AIB Fellows.”

AIB is renowned for hosting an annual conference in a different country each year, dealing with a topic relevant to the current global business climate. Last June, in Copenhagen, more than 1,200 scholars gathered to discuss ‘International Business in an Unsettling Political and Economic Environment.’ With volatility and inconsistency determining the international milieu, instilling much uncertainty in critical decision-making, the researchers deliberated on how institutions and corporations should prepare and commit to a future founded upon sustainability and responsible management. This year, the AIB Conference was online and extended across eight days to reach participants around the world. Coviello was an invited panellist on: ‘Scale-Ups and Scaling in an International Business Context.’  

AIB Fellows are involved with selecting individuals to be honoured with AIB’s prestigious annual awards, they lead special task forces, and they develop cutting-edge content for AIB’s global conference series. During this year’s online global conference, for example, all the women Fellows participated in a series of four panel sessions, revealing the Hidden Stories behind their career development. Designed to inform doctoral students and junior faculty, these sessions proved immensely popular.

Prior to joining Laurier, Coviello has held positions in New Zealand (University of Auckland, University of Waikato) and Canada (University of Calgary). She is from Saskatoon and earned an Honours Bachelor of Commerce and Master of Science in Technology Management at the University of Saskatchewan. Coviello holds a PhD in Marketing and International Business from the University of Auckland and she received an honorary Doctor of Economics from the University of Turku. She co-founded and led the Contemporary Marketing Practices research program at the University of Auckland, a 10-year research program across 18 countries. More recently, she initiated and led a research project with the European Innovation Academy. This involves a cross-disciplinary team of faculty from Berkeley and the Lazaridis School. She also manages a SSHRC-funded project focused on the capabilities underpinning the successful commercialization of new technologies.