Internationalization and Digitalization: Applying digital technologies to the internationalization process of small and medium-sized enterprises

Abstract

With the advent of digital technologies, a new social paradigm is emerging, and disruptive changes are an important part of future progress. Characterized by the convergence of many emerging technologies, whose core is data (big data, artificial intelligence, internet of things, etc.), digitalization leads firms to radical transformations in their systems and processes, as well as in their management methods and workforce. For instance, by reducing operating costs and improving interactions among ecosystem stakeholders including customers, partners, suppliers and distributors nascent digital technologies are playing an increasingly important role in company growth (Nambisan, 2017; Reuber & Fischer, 2011, 2014). Digitalization has started to be addressed at a scientific level in the fields of entrepreneurship and management research, among others (Kraus et al., 2019). However, although international research has been fundamentally influenced by the pervasive effects of technological advances for many years, relatively few studies have investigated emergent digital technologies to theoretically understand and empirically test their attributes in international business management (Hannibal & Knight, 2018; Brouthers et al., 2018, 2016; Neubert, 2018; Ojala et al., 2018; Stallkamp & Schotter, 2018; Watson et al., 2018; Wittkop et al., 2018; Coviello et al., 2017; Strange & Zucchella, 2017; Autio & Zander, 2016; Tanev et al., 2015).