Globalization Patterns of Emerging High Technology Companies: An Exploratory Analysis of Desktop Computing
Posted: 23 Aug 1998
Abstract
Two traditional models of global expansion were evaluated in an exploratory effort to explain the globalization patterns of emerging high-technology companies. Extensive field interviews were conducted with 19 Massachusetts-based companies that supply software or peripheral products for desktop computing to explore: their timing and aggressiveness in entering markets outside of North America; their structures and patterns for expansion; and their success. Sample companies report non-domestic revenues ranging from 6% to 58% of their totals. Most companies achieved 10% non-domestic revenues with only modest efforts, although companies supplying communications products subject to government regulation faced much higher penetration barriers. Globalization success, defined here as how quickly a company achieves a substantial percentage of revenues from non-domestic markets, is strongly linked to how aggressively senior management allocates internal resources to developing an overseas business model that approximates the company's U.S. model. The varied adoption rates of the desktop computing platforms themselves also affected globalization. The results support an integrated model of globalization that combines elements of the Vernon product cycle and Rugman internationalization process models.
JEL Classification: L86
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