Ignorant and impatient internationalization?: The Uppsala model and internationalization patterns for Internet‐related firms

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine to what extent classical models of firms' internationalization process can explain behavior among totally new types of firms. More specifically, we confront the traditional so‐called Uppsala model of internationalization with data and experiences from such firms in order to analyze and discuss some basic elements in the model.Design/methodology/approach – Case studies of newly established and fast growing Internet‐related firms – rather dissimilar to the firms on which the Uppsala model was originally based – are examined.Findings – The paper finds that, first, incremental behavior does not seem to be of major concern for our Internet‐related firms, at least not in comparison with factors related to first‐mover‐advantage or following‐the‐herd behavior. Second, stakeholders other than those included in the Uppsala model seemed to have a profound influence on the studied firms, forcing them to go abroad much faster than the model would predict. Third, relate...

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