Online and Offline Resources in the Internationalization of an Online Marketplace: A Digital Alternative to Freight Forwarding. A Single Case Study of Adnavem

Abstract

Technological change is considered one of the most important underlying roots for the globalization of economic activity. It has created the new economy online, and the internet has evolved to be a marketplace for traditional firms and given life to new types of companies. However, remarkably few studies have been conducted on the internationalization of digital-based born globals. Therefore, a qualitative single case study has been conducted on the digital born global Adnavem, a startup company offering a digital alternative to freight forwarding. The authors have, with the help of the case company, researched how a digital born global within transport logistics internationalizes through online and offline resources. The authors have also examined how experiential knowledge and networks, that descend from the offline resources of human beings, can be considered as prerequisites for their internationalization. The study has shown that the digital born global within transport logistics, Adnavem, utilizes both online and offline resources in its internationalization. The increasing utilization of online resources delimits its need of utilizing offline resources, as certain activities can be managed by themselves in the online space. However, its offline dependence is likely to increase in conjunction with the increasing establishment of offline infrastructure in local markets, which is sometimes even required by regulation. Experiential knowledge can be considered as a prerequisite for a digital born global within transport logistics’ opportunity to “skip a step” in internationalization by entering and committing to distant markets early from its inception. Networks can in their turn be considered as a prerequisite for a digital born global within transport logistics’ ability to realize a globally scalable business model, as well as for facilitated international market entry.