Internationalization of Enterprise-solution Software: From Understand Your Product to Understand Your Network

Abstract: Due to the characteristics of software, software products have been considered products with "pure" profits which are suitable to be sold in the international market. Enterprise software is one typical type of software which is mainly sold in business market. More and more enterprise software providers are going abroad to discover opportunities for their enterprise solutions. This thesis is to try to give more suggestions on internationalization for these enterprise software providers. The empirical case is concerning the internationalization of the enterprise software provided by a Swedish software company, Company A. The case happens in the specific geographic area (China) which is far away from the domestic market, the Swedish market. Based on the business network of Company A, Software A has been successfully sold in the Chinese market. The analysis is on the basis of the empirical case and the relevant theories on internationalization. In the context of the empirical case, the nature of enterprise software has been analyzed. Enterprise software is usually tangible and customized, and the internationalization of enterprise software is more relationship-based than mass software products. The discussion about the nature of enterprise software contains the "service" nature of enterprise software, the "service" typology of enterprise software in international marketing and some features of enterprise software which are influencing the internationalization of enterprise software. By understanding the nature of enterprise software, enterprise software providers are capable of crafting international marketing strategies in their internationalization processes. For example, enterprise software providers can develop module-based software or add more self-customization functions to decrease the risks of internationalization. ii Internationalization has been discussed for a long time since the "Uppsala" model was come up in 1977. In the last thirty years, the business environment has been changing with the tendency of expanding through the network-based business relationship. The new "Uppsala" model, which was born in this new business environment, has been leaded me to analyze the success and failure in the empirical case. The internationalization of enterprise software is observed to follow the changes of the four elements in the new "Uppsala" model, in which "opportunities learning" and "trust building" are highlighted in the network-based business environment. The new "Uppsala" model is valuable for today’s internationalization to develop strategies for the more successful internationalization. From understanding the product to understanding the network, enterprise software providers can explore more international opportunities and internationalization strategies for their enterprise software instead of the traditional thinking.