Internationalisation as Business Model Design Process

Abstract

Established theories of firm internationalisation are not able to fully explain the internationalisation process of digital-age new ventures. We introduce a fresh perspective into the internationalisation process of new ventures by applying a business model design lens. We combine international entrepreneurship literature and service dominant logic perspective to explain and theorise how new ventures internationalise rapidly in digitally enhanced contexts. Our key findings are that new ventures that leverage digital technologies and platforms for internationalisation tend to start globally and move towards consolidation and country-specific approach, accompanied by progression from digitally-based operations towards a ‘physicalisation’ of their business models. Broadly, we contribute to international entrepreneurship literature by proposing a framework of internationalisation as business model design process, with elements of value co-creation through boundary-spanning interactions.