This paper discusses the role of the Academy of International Business (AIB) from the perspective of multinational network management. The AIB coordinates the activities of many ‘Chapters’ and IB scholars dispersed across the globe. The AIB is found to play a pivotal role in: (a) supporting scholarly initiatives; (b) creating and sustaining a social community of IB researchers and teachers; and (c) solving conflicts that inevitably arise within a multinational network. The AIB is the hub of an ecosystem of journals and affiliate organizations and functions as a ‘beacon of intellectual illumination’ in an era of decoupling and nascent deglobalization.