Thrown in a Spirit of Design: Internationalisation Influencing the Business Model

Abstract: BACKGROUND. The relaxation of the global conditions, mainly but not reduced to the introduction of the Internet, and the demanding competitive pressures have triggered the expansionary phenomenon of startups that seek to compete internationally right after its birth. This urge for a mechanism to facilitate the internationalisation process, namely the business model. In this regard, there is a need to elaborate on the field of the business model in combination to the internationalization literature, which has tended to develop in isolation. PURPOSE. The purpose of this master thesis is to expand the knowledge about the process of designing the business model of a new international venture and how the drivers of internationalisation affect this process. METHODOLOGY. The research problem was identified by exploring two major streams of theory, the business model and the internationalisation, which were developed jointly in a visual representation. In the next step, from two Sweden-based international new ventures, named Againity AB and MIMSI Materials AB, empirical information was collected from diverse stakeholders. The technique was qualitative research method, which was scrutinized following a process model approach. Finally, a model proposition was constructed by analysing the realities of the practical and theoretical phenomenon to serve the purpose of enhancing knowledge. RESULT. The BMD process is composed by three stages, namely initiating, generating and refining, of iterative and interdependent nature. Each driver of internationalization, when scrutinized using the empirical realities of the INVs, tends to have different influential roles at different stages of the business model. This is integrated into a conceptual model of the key internationalization drivers and BMD stages, which reflects the strategic fit from which new ventures benefit.