What it means to be “critical” in relation to international business

Purpose The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the usage of the word critical in the social sciences, to review how being critical is a process through which criticism is a positive act, and to highlight the relevance of such a perspective in relation to international business. Design/methodology/approach International business is viewed through the critical optic of the work of a group of scholars, collectively known as the Frankfurt School. Critical logic is shown to be a “destructive” and “disrobing” act to reveal buried presuppositions. It is argued that a form of negation occurs that carries an important reflective function through a modality of estrangement – it is destructive, but the destruction is revealed to re‐emerge in a positive act. Findings The term critical is revealed as a constructive processual activity. The pretentious nature of positivism that seems to pervade thinking in international business is disrobed as being some kind of science and instead revealed to be a discourse firmly in the realm of values. Originality/value A paper that is among few that rigorously interrogates the meaning of being critical in relation to international business.