Internetbased sales channel strategies of born global firms.docx
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Internetbasedsaleschannelstrategiesofbornglobalfirms
InternationalBusinessReview国际商业评论
Volume20,Issue1,February2011,Pages88-99第20卷第1期,2011年2月,页88-99
Internet-basedsaleschannelstrategiesofbornglobalfirms
基于互联网的全球新生企业的销售渠道战略
MikaGabrielssona,andPeterGabrielssonb,a
aInternationalBusiness,AaltoUniversitySchoolofEconomics,Finland
bInternationalMarketing,UniversityofVaasa,Finland
Received6July2008;
revised30April2010;
accepted3May2010.
Availableonline15June2010.
Abstract摘要
Recentchangesinthetechnologicalenvironmenthavehadasignificantimpactontheavailablesaleschannelalternatives.Attheforefrontofthisdevelopmentarethebornglobalfirms,whichhavebeenrelativelyquicktoadoptInternet-basedchannels.Interestingly,manyofthesefirmshavereliednotonlyonInternet-basedchannels,butalsousedcombinationsofconventionalchannelsandtheInternet.Thisstudydescribesandanalyzesthestructureanddevelopmentfromsingletowardsmultiplesaleschannels.Itdevelopsaframeworkconsistingofthreeindependentfactors:
(1)theglobalizationprocess,
(2)marketstructureandInternetsuitability,and(3)long-termchannelrelations.Theseareexaminedinamultiplecasestudyconsistingof35cases.TheInternet-basedmultiplesaleschannelsprovedtobemorecommoninbornglobalsthathadreachedahigherglobalizationdegreethaninthosewhichwerestillatapreliminarystage.AnovelfindingwasthatrelationshipdevelopmentwithsmalllocalchannelsandMNCsalsoremainsimportantwhenInternetsaleschannelsareused.Theseresultscontributetoarelativelyunder-researchedareafocusingoninternationalInternet-basedsaleschannelsanduseofmultiplechannels.
Keywords:
Bornglobals;Channelstrategies;Internet
ArticleOutline
1.
Introduction
2.
MultiplesaleschannelstrategiesandtheInternet
3.
Theoreticalframeworkandpropositiondevelopment
4.
Researchdesign,datagatheringandanalysis
5.
Empiricalresults
5.1.Internet-basedchannelstrategies
5.2.Impactofglobalizationphase
5.3.MarketstructureandInternetsuitability
5.4.Long-termchannelrelations
6.
Discussionandconclusions
Acknowledgements
References
1.Introduction
Theexistenceandimportanceofbornglobalfirmshasprovedtobesignificantinmanymarkets([KnightandCavusgil,1996],[MadsenandServais,1997],[OviattandMcDougall,1994],[Rennie,1993]and[Zahra,2005]).Bornglobalshavebeenresearchedinover20countries,includingmanysmallandopeneconomiessuchasIreland,NewZealand,Greece,Israel,Finland,Norway,Denmark,Sweden,andAustralia.However,theyhavealsooriginatedinlargereconomiessuchastheUS,Japan,Germany,France,theUKandCanada(e.g.,Dana,2004).Theresearchhasalsoidentifiedthecharacteristicsofbornglobals(Madsen,Rasmussen,&Servais,2000)andthefactorsfacilitatingearlyandrapidglobalizationofthesefirms(Rialp,Rialp,&Knight,2005).Nevertheless,moreemphasisondevelopmentoftheoryandconceptualframeworkshasbeencalledforinresearchonbornglobals([JonesandCoviello,2005]and[Rialpetal.,2005]).Althoughtheinternationalandglobalmarketingliteraturehascontributedmuchtoourunderstandingofthemarketingstrategiesoflargeglobalfirms(e.g.,[Levitt,1983]and[Yip,1989]),littlehasbeenwrittenspecificallyonthemarketingstrategiesofbornglobalswiththeexceptionofafewstudies(e.g.,Knight,1997).Moreover,fewofthesestudiesarerelatedtothechallengesfacingbornglobalsintheirstrategicmarketingchannelselection(Gabrielsson&Kirpalani,2004).
Thisisstriking,giventhegreatchangesthathavetakenplaceinthemarketingenvironmentduetointroductionoftheInternetandothermoderntechnologiesthatenablebypassingofconventionalchannels(Frazier,1999).ItthereforeseemsjustifiabletostudytheInternet-basedchannelstrategiesofbornglobals(Moen,2002).ItisparticularlyinterestingtoexaminetheglobalexpansionofthebornglobalsandtheiruseoftheInternetasasaleschannel(Servais,Madsen,&Rasmussen,2007).Furthermore,earlierliteraturehasexaminedsinglechannelstrategyalternatives(direct/indirect),buthasfocusedlimitedattentiononmultiplechannelstrategyalternatives(Anderson,Day,&Rangan,1997).ThemultiplechannelalternativesareofconsiderableimportancefortheinvestigationofInternet-basedsaleschannelstrategies.Hence,Internet-basedchannelstrategiesasameansofinternationalexpansionhavebeenunder-researchedandclearlyformaresearchgap(Gabrielsson,Kirpalani,&Luostarinen,2002,p.93).Thisleadstothefollowingresearchquestions:
(1)WhatkindofInternet-basedsaleschannelstrategyalternativesareavailableforbornglobalcompanies?
(2)WhatfactorsimpacttheselectionoftheInternet-basedsaleschannelstrategiesofbornglobals?
ThisresearchexaminestheInternet-basedsaleschannelsfromtheperspectiveofbornglobalfirms.Inthisresearch,abornglobalfirmisdefinedasonethat“frominception,seekstoderivesignificantcompetitiveadvantagefromtheuseofresourcesandthesalesofoutputsinmultiplecountries”(Oviatt&McDougall,1994,p.49).
2.MultiplesaleschannelstrategiesandtheInternet
Theinternationalizationprocessliteraturerecognizestwomaingroupsofmarketingoperationsthatformthebaseforchannelstrategies;theseareexportoperationsandsalessubsidiaryoperations([JohansonandVahlne,1977]and[Luostarinen,1979],p.110).Themarketingliteraturebecomesusefulinafurtherexaminationofthesaleschannelstructuresincountries.Accordingly,theconventionalsaleschannelcanbeoneofthetwomainalternatives,adirectsaleschannelinwhichtheproducersellsdirectlytoindustrialorconsumerend-customersoranindirectsaleschannelinwhichindependentchannelmemberslocatedinthetargetmarketareused(Frazier,1999).Aproducermayalsouseacombinationofbothdirectandindirectsaleschannels.
However,thepotentialroleoftheInternetandinformationtechnologyininternationalmarketingshouldbetakenintoaccount(Samiee,1998).ThisbecomesparticularlyimportantforbornglobalfirmsthathavebeenfoundtousetheInternetintensivelyinsupportoftheirexportactivities(Moen,2002).ResearchhasarguedthattheInternetisoneofthewaysforbornglobalstoobtainsubstantialrevenuesandcashflowrapidly(Gabrielsson&Kirpalani,2004).Asamatteroffact,someevidenceshowsthatwhenproperlyapplied,theInternetcanreducetheliabilityofforeignnessandnewness(cf.,Kotha,Rindova,&Rothaermel,2001,p.771)andresourcescarcity,andthuscontributetofasterglobalization(Arenius,Sasi,&Gabrielsson,2005).Withinthisstudy,Internetusageisinvestigatedwithrespecttobothexportandsalessubsidiaryoperations.SpecialattentionwasplacedontheextenttowhichInternet-basedsaleschannelstrategieswereusedbythebornglobalfirmitself.UseoftheInternetbymiddlemeninthenextlayerwasnotexaminedinthispapersinceitwouldmeritaseparatestudy.
PreviousresearchhasplacedInternetusageindifferentcategories.Forinstance,Angehrn(1997)classifiesuseoftheInternetforvirtualinformationspace,virtualcommunicationspace,virtualtransactionspace,andvirtualdistributionspace.ThishasbeenfurtherdevelopedbyServaisetal.(2007),whodividethecategoriesintoinformationsharing,interaction,transaction,andintegration.Inthecontextofinternationalsaleschannelstrategies,theimportantfunctionsthatcanbepartlycoveredbytheInternetincludepromotion,customergeneration,andproductfulfillment(stockholding,distribution,etc.)(cf.,Buckley,Pass,&Prescott,1994).InternetpromotionbasedoninformationsharingisalreadycommoninmostofthecompaniesandthereforethisusagealonedoesnotqualifyasanInternet-basedsaleschannelstrategy.Hence,inthisstudyanInternet-basedsaleschannelstrategyshouldconsistofeithercustomergenerationbasedontwo-wayinteractionbetweenbornglobalsandtheircustomersorchannelmembersinordertoprocesssalesorders,orthenproductfulfillmentbasedonexchangeofproductsorservicesovertheInternet.
ThefourmajorchannelstrategiesofferedbytheInternetareillustratedin[Fig.1]and[Fig.2].Theycanbedividedonthebasisoftwomajordimensions:
directnessandnumberofchannels.TheInternetcanbeusedasadirectsaleschannel(1stalternative)inwhichthebornglobalproducercarriesoutallthechannelfunctionsbyitselfandappliestheInternetforbothpromotionandtogeneratecustomersand/orhandleproductfulfillment.TheInternetmaybeusedinasimilarwaybythebornglobalfirminsellingtoindirectchannelpartners(2ndalternative).ThesetwosinglechannelstrategyalternativesavailableforbornglobalfirmsareillustratedinFig.1(useoftheInternetisshownwithadottedlineinthefigure).Althoughthefocusofthisstudyisontheproducer'sInternet-basedsaleschannelstrategy,thefigurealsoshowsthatadistributororresellermayapplyeitheratraditionaloranInternet-basedsaleschannelwhenresellingtotheendcustomer.
Full-sizeimage(19K)
Fig.1.
DirectandindirectInternet-basedsaleschannelstrategies.(Note:
UseofInternetshownwithdottedline.)
ViewWithinArticle
Full-sizeimage(26K)
Fig.2.
DualandhybridInternet-basedsaleschannelstrategies.(Note:
UseofInternetshownwithdottedline.)
ViewWithinArticle
Moreover,researchhasindicatedthatinbornglobalfirmsthedirectInternetsaleschannelcanbeusedincombinationwithindirectchannelstocreatemultiplesaleschannels(M
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