Business Models and Internationalization Speed: How a business model determines the internationalization speed of a company
Authors
Michaeler, Thomas ; Stisager, Niclas Lund
Term
4. Term
Publication year
2015
Submitted on
2015-06-07
Pages
138
Abstract
Mange forskere forklarer, hvorfor nogle virksomheder går internationalt meget tidligt, med ledernes internationale erfaring. Denne afhandling bygger på Jean‑François Hennarts argument om, at forretningsmodellens egenskaber kan være endnu vigtigere. Formålet er at undersøge, om forretningsmodellens karakteristika kan forudsige internationaliseringshastighed, her defineret som den tid, det tager en virksomhed at begynde at tilbyde sit værditilbud (sit kerneudbud til kunder) i udlandet. For at holde begrebet generelt defineres internationalisering som at gå ind på et udenlandsk marked i en oversøisk region. Et review af internationaliseringsteorier peger på to nøgledrivere for hastighed: integration og tilpasning. Integration er, hvor meget virksomheden skal koordinere eller internalisere aktiviteter på tværs af grænser; tilpasning er, hvor meget produkt, service eller processer skal justeres til lokale forhold. Afhandlingen anvender en forretningsmodelleramme og bruger transaktionsomkostningsteori, som ser på omkostninger ved at bruge markedet kontra at organisere aktiviteter internt, til at vurdere hver komponent i forretningsmodellen ud fra forventet integrations- og tilpasningsindsats ved en oversøisk markedsindtræden. Dette munder ud i et scoringskort, som anvendes på fem virksomheder, der allerede er internationalt etablerede. Deres scorer sammenlignes med deres ekspansionshistorik og med hinanden. Analysen finder sammenhænge mellem forretningsmodellens egenskaber og den observerede internationaliseringshastighed.
Many scholars explain why some companies expand abroad very early by pointing to managers’ international experience. This thesis builds on Jean‑François Hennart’s argument that features of a company’s business model may be even more important. It examines whether business model characteristics can predict internationalization speed, defined here as the time it takes a company to start offering its value proposition (its core offering to customers) abroad. To keep the concept general, internationalization is defined as entering a foreign market in an overseas region. A review of internationalization theories highlights two key drivers of speed: integration and adaptation. Integration is how much a firm must coordinate or internalize activities across borders; adaptation is how much its product, service, or processes must be tailored to local conditions. The thesis adopts a business model framework and uses transaction cost theory, which examines the costs of using the market versus organizing activities in‑house, to rate each business model component on the integration and adaptation effort expected during an overseas market entry. This produces a scorecard that is applied to five companies that have already expanded internationally. Their scores are compared with their expansion histories and with one another. The analysis finds correlations between business model characteristics and the observed speed of internationalization.
[This abstract was generated with the help of AI]
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