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"A roasted duck can still fly away": A case study of technology, nationality, culture and the rapid and early internationalization of the firm

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  • Zhang, Marina Y.
  • Dodgson, Mark

Abstract

The possession of key international technical standards in some technology-based sectors can provide considerable advantages for firms wishing to internationalize rapidly and early. Avaro, a start-up Korean company, developed and owned a critical standard in the emerging international mobile payments industry. The company also enjoyed many of the other conditions conducive to successful internationalization, such as supportive international networks, encouraging government policy, attractive international market and financing opportunities and a munificent national technological and business home base. Yet the company's efforts at rapid and early internationalization failed. A multiplicity of factors explains how, despite its advantages, the company did not internationalize successfully. The paper highlights the importance of specific national and cultural factors constraining rapid and early internationalization. It argues that the nascent research field of international entrepreneurship has fully to account for the particular characteristics of technology products and markets, national business systems, and enduring cultural influences as it develops theoretical understanding of, and guides management practices in, emerging global technology markets.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhang, Marina Y. & Dodgson, Mark, 2007. ""A roasted duck can still fly away": A case study of technology, nationality, culture and the rapid and early internationalization of the firm," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 336-349, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:worbus:v:42:y:2007:i:3:p:336-349
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    3. Jones, Marian V. & Coviello, Nicole & Tang, Yee Kwan, 2011. "International Entrepreneurship research (1989–2009): A domain ontology and thematic analysis," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 632-659.
    4. Indujeeva Peiris & Michèle Akoorie & Paresha Sinha, 2012. "International entrepreneurship: A critical analysis of studies in the past two decades and future directions for research," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 10(4), pages 279-324, December.
    5. Maha Ayadi-Frikha, 2014. "Cognitive Map for Identifying the Determinants of the Early and Rapidly Internationalizing Firms," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 5(3), pages 633-645, September.
    6. Zhang, Marina Yue & Williamson, Peter, 2021. "The emergence of multiplatform ecosystems: insights from China's mobile payments system in overcoming bottlenecks to reach the mass market," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    7. Nooraisah Katmon & Zam Zuriyati Mohamad & Norlia Mat Norwani & Omar Al Farooque, 2019. "Comprehensive Board Diversity and Quality of Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure: Evidence from an Emerging Market," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 157(2), pages 447-481, June.
    8. Kim, Kwanghyun & Slocum Jr., John W., 2008. "Individual differences and expatriate assignment effectiveness: The case of U.S.-based Korean expatriates," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 109-126, January.
    9. Anca Maria Stanculescu & Liliana Grigore & Andreea Mihaela Gagea & Bogdan Georgescu, 2010. "The Born Global Model For Romanian Small And Medium Enterprises Internationalization," JOURNAL STUDIA UNIVERSITATIS BABES-BOLYAI NEGOTIA, Babes-Bolyai University, Faculty of Business.
    10. Richardson, Christopher, 2014. "Firm internationalisation within the Muslim world," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 386-395.
    11. Farhad Uddin Ahmed & Louis Brennan, 2021. "A review of methodological diversity within the domain of international entrepreneurship," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 256-299, June.
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