Search results for "software firms"

Risk issues for foreign software firms in China

2007

Internationalization of knowledge-intensive SMEs: The role of network relationships in the entry to a psychically distant market

2009

Abstract Current research emphasizes the role of extant network relationships in the international development of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Inevitably, these relationships are there, most likely, to provide linkages with and facilitate entry into psychically and geographically close markets. But what of firms entering psychically distant markets, for strategic reasons, as is usually the case with knowledge-intensive SMEs? Will existing network relationships remain important, and will they operate in a similar way. In this exploratory case study, in which eight Finnish software SMEs enter the Japanese market, the decision to enter these markets is found to be for strategic …

Contrasting Internationalization Paths of Product- and Service-oriented Software Firms

2019

The internationalization of software firms has been widely researched topic over the last two decades. However, the most of the studies have treated software firms as a homogeneous group, ignoring the fact that software firms actually differ greatly in terms of having either a product or a service orientation. Based on earlier literature, we hypothesized that software product firms would show a tendency to internationalize earlier and at a smaller size than software service firms, and that product firms would show a greater tendency to target countries that are both geographically and culturally distant. In fact, we found no support for most of our hypotheses, with relatively strong and sta…

Entry Barriers of Small and Medium-sized Software Firms in the Japanese Market

2007

The Japanese software market size was 131,773 million U.S. dollars in 2004. Due to limited domestic software production, Japan is highly dependent on imported software products. Despite the market potential for foreign software firms in Japan, almost no research exists on what kind of challenges foreign software firms encounter when they are entering the market. To fill this gap, this paper investigates the entry barriers of small and medium-sized software firms in the Japanese market by using a multi case-study. The findings suggest that most of the barriers are firm-specific and mainly related to firms’ resources and capabilities to operate in the market. The entry barriers encountered al…

Distance Factors in the Foreign Market Entry of Software SMEs

2010

Recent studies have indicated that the internationalization process of software SMEs is somewhat independent on the effect of psychic or geographic distance. However, these studies have analyzed the general pattern of entries where software SMEs not commonly follow a step-wise entry route from nearby countries to distant ones. Thus, it remains unknown what the effect of psychic and geographical distance is when these firms enter a distant foreign market. The findings in this case study reveal that psychic and geographic distance inhibited the foreign market entry of software SMEs. However, the distant foreign market entry of these firms was facilitated by distance-bridging and distance-comp…

Causation and Effectuation in the Foreign Market Entry and Selection of Software SMEs

2012

Current research emphasizes several factors impacting on SME internationalization. However, it remains unclear that how entrepreneurs in SMEs think and implement their internationalization and select target countries for foreign operations. In this qualitative case study, foreign market selection and entries of five Finnish software firms are analyzed by using the theory of causation and effectuation. The findings imply that software SMEs used more causation logic in their foreign market selection and effectuation logic in their foreign market entries. The case firms that followed causation logic in FMS entered more distant countries. peerReviewed

Market Entry and Priority of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in the Software Industry: An Empirical Analysis of Cultural Distance, Geographical Di…

2007

This paper investigates the influence of cultural distance, geographical distance, and three market size variables to the target country preference of SMEs in the software industry. In addition, we examine the shift of priorities in SMEs’ country selection by analyzing how these factors impact the selection of the first, second, and third target countries. Empirical findings of this study suggest that almost 70% of country choices can be explained by software market size and geographical distance alone. The findings adduced also that entry priority of SMEs shifts very fast from countries within a short geographical distance to countries with high purchasing power and within a greater geogra…

Software Complexity and Organization of Firms’ Offshoring Activities

2017

How does software complexity shape software providers’ offshoring tasks, and how do such firms organize their offshoring activity? These questions are important, since the global software development market is growing rapidly, offering new opportunities for software managers and entrepreneurs to distribute their activities geographically. Based on a multi-site case study of 12 software firms, we study connections between software complexity and the offshoring strategies selected. Our findings suggest that software firms select a variety of organizational structures for their offshoring activity, and that the selection is shaped by the complexity of the software in question. peerReviewed

Innovation as a driver of internationalization in the software industry

2013

Innovation and internationalization are two important factors for growth. This study analyzes whether innovativeness has an effect on the internationalization of software firms, and if so, how strong this effect is. Innovation and internationalization have rarely been studied together, with research tending to focus more on the relationship between innovations and growth. However, internationalization is a key prerequisite for growth for companies operating in small domestic markets. This paper analyzes the innovativeness and internationalization of firms, using data from the Software Industry Survey conducted in Finland. Since the speed of firm growth and internationalization are dependent…