ABSTRACT
The growth of international branch campuses (IBCs) in China, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) accounts for a significant portion of the overall growth of IBCs globally. Conversely the largest exporter of IBCs globally is the United States, with several U.S. IBCs located in each of these importing countries. With the intention of focusing on the largest importing countries and the largest exporting country in the development of IBCs, this article presents a comparative analysis of the development of U.S. IBCs in China, Qatar, and the UAE. The analysis serves to add to the discourse on how these organizations are designed and organized from a sustainability perspective to meet the educational demands and regulatory framework of the host country. The divergent strategies for IBC development employed in these three countries provide an ideal medium in which to comparatively explore the poorly understood complexities of IBC development in differing countries. The article draws on three key sources of information to highlight the comparatively different approaches to the organizational development of IBCs within each of the respective regions. To illuminate the differing organizational designs that have emerged in the three counties, this article situates the development of IBCs in a historical context, applies an organizational theory framework, and draws from primary qualitative data collected by the author. The author highlights that the different strategies in the organizational design of IBC business models in each of the three countries evolved due to specific economic strategies unique to the respective country and that the differing strategies are in part necessary for sustainability within the respective host country.
