Scaling, fast and slow: The internationalization of digital ventures

Abstract

At first glance, digital business ventures appear to face few impediments to international expansion. Since digital products and services can be delivered over the internet almost instantly to any country in the world, digital business models may seem to sweep away many traditional obstacles to internationalization. In reality, however, the timing and extent of internationalization among digital ventures is highly heterogeneous. What explains this variance among firms that might otherwise be expected to pursue global markets from inception? In answering this question, we extend and enhance emerging work on the internationalization of digital ventures through an investigation of 169 US-based firms that completed IPOs from 2010 to 2019. Our work contributes fresh perspectives and empirical evidence on why some digital firms find it easier to achieve international scale than others.