Internationalization and business model decisions: A business case in mobile telecommunication industry

In a world characterized by hyper-competition (Gunther and D'Aveni 1994) and globalization (Knight 2000), the business model concept is becoming more and more popular. From the literature review arises a lack of a generally accepted definition of what it is, despite the growing importance of this concept. The paper is structured in five main sections. In the first one we present a review of the business model literature. The literature on business models is not exhaustive and moreover many authors often mixed up the business model with other concepts such as strategy and finance. Two main streams of literature are identifiable: the first one emerged in the mid Nineties and generally focused on e-business contexts; the second one emerged at the beginning of this decade and is not exclusively ascribable to high-tech companies. In the second paragraph we underline how relevant the decisions are about location; since in the literature on international entrepreneurship does not emerge a business model perspective of the matter the analysis is a lacking. In the third paragraph we focus our attention on Onetti and Zucchella’s business model (2008). The authors proposed a business model framework characterized by two main aspects: the clear separation among the business model, strategy and finance, and the emphasis on the relevance of location decisions. The outputs of the business model are the focus, locus and modus of companies activities. In the fourth section we try to apply this business model to Fi.Mo.Tec.’s business case, trying to explain the company’s past and to devise a way to manage the future. The conclusions complete the paper.