Abstract
PurposeThe aim of this paper is to identify ways and motives of application of e-commerce in the foreign expansion of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) fashion brands.Design/methodology/approachA multiple case study was used as the research method. Data were obtained from primarily in-depth interviews with managers of four Polish SMEs –fashion brands owners, whose products are sold in the foreign markets using e-commerce, and secondary sources.FindingsThrough this study the authors identified both strategic-proactive and market-reactive motives of e-commerce applications in SMEs’ fashion brands in the internet-enabled foreign expansion and three different models of usage of e-commerce in the foreign expansion of SMEs.Research limitations/implicationsThe research was based on the multiple case study of only Polish SMEs in the fashion industry. The conclusions of this study can be applied by fashion companies in their internet-based foreign expansion.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the existing body of literature on the internationalization process of SMEs, and particularly on the application of cross-border e-commerce in the foreign internet-enabled expansion of fashion SMEs by identifying three various models of applying e-commerce, in the internet-enabled foreign expansion and their both proactive and reactive motives.
Highlights
The phenomenon of Internet-enabled and Internet-based internationalization (Mathews et al, 2012; Nguyen and Barret, 2007; Shneor and Flaten, 2008) is gaining importance (e.g. Bai et al, 2017; Morais and Ferreira, 2020)
Studies in the field of international entrepreneurship focusing on SMEs concern mainly a phenomenon of born-global firms and factors on the individual and firm-level determining firm internationalization (McDougall and Oviatt, 2005). These concepts do not take into account the context of digitalization, and especially various forms of e-commerce as modes of Internetenabled SMEs foreign expansion
The primary source of data were individual, direct, semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted in Polish with owners or highlevel managers in the studied Polish fashion SMEs, responsible for marketing and foreign expansion strategies of these companies, using e-commerce tools
Summary
The phenomenon of Internet-enabled and Internet-based internationalization (internetalization) (Mathews et al, 2012; Nguyen and Barret, 2007; Shneor and Flaten, 2008) is gaining importance (e.g. Bai et al, 2017; Morais and Ferreira, 2020). Studies in the field of international entrepreneurship focusing on SMEs concern mainly a phenomenon of born-global firms and factors on the individual and firm-level determining firm internationalization (McDougall and Oviatt, 2005) These concepts do not take into account the context of digitalization, and especially various forms of e-commerce as modes of Internetenabled SMEs foreign expansion. Restrictions introduced in many countries during the COVID-19 pandemic have led to an increase in the number of consumers shopping online, and – in consequence – to changes in distribution channels of many firms towards an increase of digital channels’ share in sales of fashion industry This trend is expected to continue, and that confirms the importance of research on the use of various forms of e-commerce in the internationalization of companies, SMEs. during the COVID-19 pandemic there is an increasing interest in selling via multi-sided digital platforms The paper is summarized with a discussion of results, implications for theory and practice, study E-commerce in limitations and recommendations for the further research
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