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The online–offline balance: internationalization for Swedish online service providers

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Abstract

Online service providers (OSPs) are becoming increasingly important in the global economy and are undertaking internationalization at a remarkable speed. Since they depend on digital delivery over the internet, OSPs are portrayed as footloose in their geographical expansion and are often described as “born global.” However, on the basis of three case studies, the paper reveals the importance of the home market as a springboard, and of regional expansion in the early phase of internationalization. The paper emphasizes the balance in the internationalization process between an online and an offline presence in the new international market. The time gap between online and offline presence, the online-to-offline interval, seems to be a critical factor in the internationalization process. The speed of the internet industry and the technically complex nature of online services could explain why the case firms chose controlled modes of entry. The case firms thus skip sequential steps, following a pattern that is in contrast to the Uppsala model. Overall, the paper suggests that finding the right balance between the online and the offline presence is a challenge in the internationalization of these particular Swedish OSP firms.

Résumé

Les online service providers (OSPs) autrement dit les entreprises qui offrent des services par internet, prennent de plus en plus d’importance dans l’économie globale et connaissent une internationalisation remarquablement rapide. Dépendants de la livraison numérique via internet, les OSPs sont considérés comme bénéficiant d’une expansion géographique sans entrave et sont souvent décrits comme “born global”. Pourtant, basé sur trois études de cas, l’article révèle l’importance du tremplin que représente le marché d’origine, suivi par l’expansion régionale dans la première phase d’internationalisation. L’article met l’accent sur l’équilibre, entre la présence en ligne et hors ligne, dans le processus d’internationalisation. L’à-propos dans le passage du hors ligne au en ligne, c’est à dire l’intervalle entre l’existence en ligne et l’existence hors ligne, parait être un facteur déterminant dans le processus d’internationalisation. La vitesse de l’industrie internet, et la nature complexe des services en ligne pourraient expliquer pourquoi les entreprises étudiées ont choisi des modes d’entrée contrôlés. Ces entreprises ont cependant sautés certaines étapes séquentielles, ce qui constitue un modèle contrastant avec le modèle d’Uppsala. Globalement, l’article suggère que trouver la bonne mesure entre présence en ligne et hors ligne est un défi pour l’internationalisation des OSPs suédois présentés.

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Acknowledgments

The author wants to express his gratitude for the constructive and reflective comments from the three anonymous reviewers, and also to the interviewed co-founders and managers of Klarna, iZettle, and Wrapp for sharing their experiences regarding internationalization.

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  1. Centre for International Business Studies, School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Robert Wentrup

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Correspondence to Robert Wentrup.

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Table 4 19-firm population of Swedish OSPs
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Wentrup, R. The online–offline balance: internationalization for Swedish online service providers. J Int Entrep 14, 562–594 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10843-016-0171-2

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