Rask, M., & Petersen, B. (2004, 27 October). International Entry Modes for Digital Product Providers. Paper presented at the Globalisation, Internationalisation of Companies and Cross-cultural Management, Comwell Rebild Bakker, Denmark.
Often internationalization of the firm refers to the process
of increasing involvement in international operations. In relation to e-business
many authors have argued that e-business will change the internationalization
processes. E-business is about digitalization of processes, products and actors
and many think that because these digitalisations, the importance of
localization diminish, especially for what we call digital product providers
that sells digitized products and services. The empirical foundation of this
paper consists of an inductive explorative case-study that serves as a
challenger and supporter of this understanding. The case describes an example of
a successful e-marketplace where customers doing reverse auctions. A recent
study found that most e-marketplaces are based in Europe and the USA and
operated mostly domestically even though a few (14%) e-marketplaces operate
worldwide (Fredsted, 2003). The case study gives insight into one of the few
international marketplaces. Scanmarket has expanded to the English, German,
American and Swedish markets. Essentially the case raises the question: “To what
extent does the Internet supersede firms’ need for local, physical presence?”
The paper is organized as follows. First an introduction is provided. After a
description of the methodological issues, the case-study is presented. The
case-study indicates theoretical issues in the discussion of the need for local,
physical presence when a digital product provider is in question. On the basis
on the theoretical and empirical background a discussion is provided in order to
understand the need for local, physical presence when a digital product provider
is in question. The final conclusion ends the paper.
