Explaining the internationalization of ibusiness firms

Explaining the internationalization of ibusiness firms

Information and communication technologies have given rise to a new type of firm, the ibusiness firm. These firms offer a platform that allows users to interact with each other and generate value through user co-creation of content. Because of this, ibusiness firms face different challenges when the...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of international business studies Vol. 47; no. 5; pp. 513 - 534
Main Authors: Brouthers, Keith D, Geisser, Kim Dung, Rothlauf, Franz
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: London Palgrave Macmillan 01-06-2016
Palgrave Macmillan UK
Subjects:
Business and Management
Business entities
Business models
Business Strategy/Leadership
Costs
Diffusion theory
Electronic commerce
Globalization
Hypotheses
Information industry
Information technology
Innovation diffusion
International Business
International relations
Internet
Management
Mass media
Opinion leaders
Organization
Social networks
Social theories
Studies
Target marketing
Theory
internationalization theory
network theory
diffusion of innovation theory
case theoretic approaches
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Information and communication technologies have given rise to a new type of firm, the ibusiness firm. These firms offer a platform that allows users to interact with each other and generate value through user co-creation of content. Because of this, ibusiness firms face different challenges when they internationalize compared with traditional firms, even those online. In this article we extend existing internationalization theory to encompass this new type of organization. We theorize that because ¡ business firms produce value through the creation and coordination of a network of users, these firms tend to suffer greater liabilities of outsidership when expanding abroad and therefore concentrate on network and diffusion-based user adoption processes as they internationalize. Based on a multi-case investigation of a sample of ibusiness firms, we develop new theory and testable hypotheses. Thus, we make an important contribution by expanding internationalization theory to a new set of firms.
ISSN:0047-2506
1478-6990
DOI:10.1057/jibs.2015.20