New venture internationalisation in the digital age

Abstract

Digitalisation is considerably affecting patterns of entrepreneurial opportunity pursuit, value creation, and innovation in the economy, yet there has been little systematic research on how digital technologies impact new venture internationalisation process, largely focused on the positive effects. However, some evidence from internationalising companies suggests that, while eliminating some barriers, digitalisation brings new types of obstacles that are not yet well understood. Extant internationalisation theories have been built on various assumptions including vertical value chains, high location specificity, and high asset specificity. These assumptions have been undermined by the usage and prevalence of digital technologies due to their specifics, such as generativity, flexibility, openness, and layered infrastructure. This research provides a systematic review of extant literature on internationalisation and digitalisation, and proposes a conceptual model based on three commonly used internationalisation ontologies: the process model, network perspective, and international new venture approach. This framework attempts to shed light on the impact of digitalisation on new venture internationalisation and aims to guide future research in this important domain. Following the review, I map the effects of digitalisation on internationalisation outcomes and offer testable propositions predicting the effects of digitalisation. Furthermore, a fresh perspective is introduced on new venture internationalisation processes by arguing the importance of the new digitalised context for internationalisation theory. A business model design lens is applied to explain new ventures’ internationalisation process in digitally enhanced contexts. Based on a multiple-case study, three areas of internationalisation, namely digital, ecosystem, and country layers, are introduced. I argue that new ventures that leverage digital technologies and platforms for internationalisation tend to initially adopt a global approach by utilising the digital layer, as well as the ecosystem layer, and then move towards consolidation while gradually developing a country-specific focus.