Research On The Internationalization Path Of Digital Firm

The characteristics of digital firms,such as expandable resources and easily replicable products,lead to different internationalization trajectories from traditional firms and challenge the theory of internationalization process of MNCs.The Uppsala model suggests that traditional firms internationalize incrementally based on experience and networks,which seems to be inconsistent with the "rapid internationalization" phenomenon of digital firms,and the existing literature lacks sufficient theoretical explanations for this phenomenon.This paper chooses ByteDance and Kwai as case studies,and tries to explore the path for digital enterprises to successfully realize rapid internationalization through multi-party data search and interviews.It is found that digital enterprises have the advantages of expansibility and easy replication,can quickly copy the domestic development model to the international development model,and expand and innovate in the process of model development,thus forming a rapid and spiral internationalization path.Further,the study finds that the two companies differ in model replication,expansion and innovation:ByteDance focuseson model replication in terms of objectives and experience,and uses model upgrading to achieve internationalization by combining the model expansion strategies of M&A entry and localized operation;while Kwai focuses on model replication in terms of products,and uses model variation by combining the model expansion strategies of new investment entry and non-interventionist operation to achieve internationalization.The analysis shows that managerial experience and corporate culture play a decisive role in the evolution of the internationalization path of digital firms.This paper contributes to the literature on the internationalization process and business model replication in digital firms,and the findings help inform the internationalization practices of digital firms.