The Internationalisation of Swedish eINVs

Abstract: This thesis investigates the internationalisation process of eINVs and how they learn and gain knowledge during rapid internationalisation. The study includes aspects of which knowledge sources are important for eINVs and how they learn from them and leverage them during rapid internationalisation. Most international business research has revolved around MNCs and conglomerates and argues for the importance of experiential knowledge during internationalisation, and is limited in explaining how firms that internationalise early and rapidly manage to internationalise with limited international knowledge. By applying a qualitative research method, the goal of this study was to give a better insight to how eINVs overcome these barriers of learning and knowledge creation. The findings suggest that, though previous research has argued against it, these eINVs internationalise and gain knowledge in incremental steps, but at unprecedented speed using aggressive learning methods. This is enabled by the nature of their product offering as well as their use of Web 2.0 tools.