International Expansion of ‘Born Digital’ firms “How is the internationalization strategy of ‘Born Digital firms’ influenced by knowledge acquisition and the International orientation of Entrepreneurs?”

Abstract: This thesis addresses the area of ‘Born Digital Firms’ and their internationalization.Recognizing that these firms are able to expand internationally shortly after inception, or by default, there has been some recognition of an absence of a conceptualized framework explaining how ‘Born Digital Firms’ internationalization strategy is impacted by concepts presented in conventional frameworks such as knowledge acquisition and the International orientation of the entrepreneur. The methodology is built upon a qualitative study with an exploratory approach where seven respondents from ‘Born Digital Firms’ participate in in-depth interviews. In the analysis section of the thesis the empirical findings are combined with the theories presented in the theoretical framework which leads into a discussion section. Followingly, six propositions are suggested which outline the findings of the study and the contributions to the existing literature. The study concludes that the Internationalization Strategy of ‘Born Digital Firms’ is developed by leveraging on the knowledge acquired through the establishment of online and offline foreign business networks. Therefore, the entrepreneurs ability to actively engage with- and being alert to the foreign business environment through an international orientation is emphasized. Though, the study indicates some ambiguity regarding whether the international orientation of entrepreneurs holds higher significance than á priori internationalization experience. Moreover, the thesis is concluded by Managerial implications for practitioners and decision makers within the field of ‘Born Digital Firms’ to make use of the research findings of this thesis