جهانی شدن بین الملل: پرتفوی کسب و کار و استراتژی های بازاریابی در زمینه ICT

The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) companies originating from small and open economies (SMOPEC), such as Finland, face the tremendous challenge of moving from the international to the global arena and developing global marketing strategies. Earlier studies have merely recognized the phenomena and postulated preliminary assumptions about the behavior of globalizing internationals. In the ICT field, all the major globalization drivers—be they changes in the macro environment, industry globalization, or pressure for increased internal efficiency—point in only one direction: globalize or die. Limited managerial and financial resources are often the challenge for companies originating from small and open economies. The study received preliminary empirical support from the ICT field that globalizing internationals select only one or at most a few of a large number of unrelated international businesses for globalization. As globalization matures, they further seek growth through related diversification. Implementation at the business unit level seems to require a change in marketing strategies; both the broadness of the marketing offering and the degree of standardization were found to evolve as globalization proceeds. At the beginning of the globalization process, a more focused marketing strategy was selected, which was then broadened as globalization proceeded. Moreover, the marketing strategy was increasingly standardized in respect to products, but also to a certain extent for brands and channels. The article develops a framework and propositions that are examined with the multiple case-study method. It also suggests further empirical testing with a survey study. Finally, it draws both theoretical and managerial conclusions that are expected to be particularly useful for ICT companies from SMOPEC countries, but interestingly also for the US companies that are competing fiercely against globalizing internationals.

In the information and communication technology (ICT) industry, the pressure to globalize existing international business is great. The information and communication technology cluster consists of a large number of different companies, ranging from manufacturers to service providers. The focus in this research is on the ICT equipment manufacturers, including network infrastructure, mobile phones, and component manufacturers. In these sectors, all the major globalization drivers—be they changes in the macro environment, industry globalization or pressure for increased internal efficiency—point in only one direction: globalize or die. Both huge benefits and risks are involved (Yip, 1989). As ‘globalizing international’ is a relatively new concept describing a particular globalization approach, we will first define it. A globalizing international is a company that has first internationalized its businesses within home continent after the domestic period and only then started to globalize outside its home continent (Luostarinen & Gabrielsson, 2002, pp. 5–6). Although, globalizing internationals account for only a rather small proportion of the ICT companies, their importance for the SMOPEC from which they often originate is huge. The term SMOPEC (small and open economy) refers to countries like Finland or Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Austria. Take for instance the Finnish company Nokia, which in 10 years has developed from a European challenger into a globally leading telecommunications terminal and infrastructure manufacturer with net sales of over 31 billion euros in 2001, out of which over half is derived outside its home continent of Europe from over 130 countries. The impact of Nokia on the Finnish economy is huge, as it represents one-fifth of the Finnish economy's total exports (Ali-Yrkkö, Paija, Reilly, & Ylä-Anttila, 2000, p. 10). Or then the telecommunications infrastructure manufacturer Ericsson, which is very important for the Swedish economy. Both of these companies first developed several international businesses and then focused on telecommunications in the 1990s. For academicians, practitioners and government policy-makers it would be valuable to better understand the factors behind their transformation from international to global status and whether another company from the same or another country could possibly replicate their achievement. This understanding is also expected to be useful for companies from larger countries, such as the USA, when planning their strategies against globalizing internationals. The internationalization process of companies has been widely studied (Johanson and Vahlne, 1977 and Luostarinen, 1979). The prevailing knowledge of internationalization as a process focuses on firms in the early phases of internationalization (Melin, 1992, p. 104). Research has also focused on both multinationals and existing global companies. Recently, the globalization process of small and medium-sized companies in particular has become of interest to researchers. Oviatt and McDougall (1994) have suggested that some companies may be international from inception, without proceeding through the conventional phases. These companies, which are often referred to as ‘born globals’ deviate from the ‘globalizing internationals’ examined here, which have first internationalized their business and only then entered the globalization stage (Luostarinen & Gabrielsson, 2002, pp. 5–6). Surprisingly, little research has been done on the globalizing internationals, except for a few studies (see Gabrielsson & Gabrielsson, 2003a). Globalizing internationals need a well planned global strategy to be able to leverage their potential fully. The managerial challenges to these companies are huge. Although they may have adequate resources, they are often distributed between many international business portfolios. The challenge lies in divesting many of the current businesses, selecting the right businesses to be globalized, and then developing the marketing programme to meet the new global customer requirements. In the above discussion, one area where little research has been conducted was identified. It can be stated in the form of the research problem as follows: How can international ICT companies from small and open economies meet the huge globalization challenge of moving from the international to the global arena and developing global marketing strategies? After the research problem has been defined, the research questions may be formulated as a partial solution to the research problem as follows: (1) How is the business portfolio developing during globalization? (2) How do the marketing strategies change while international ICT companies globalize? The main objective of this research is to examine the development of corporate and business level strategies during the transformation of the ICT companies from international to global. The article focuses on the business portfolio selection, the level of broadness of the marketing strategies (products, brands, channels), and their degree of standardization for globalizing internationals in the ICT equipment-manufacturing field. Pricing is not examined in this study, although it is an equally important marketing parameter, because it was difficult to obtain the necessary empirical data. The paper first develops a theoretical framework and propositions based on an analysis of existing literature. Then it progresses to an empirical examination of Finnish ICT companies and uses multiple case study methods to analyze them. Theoretical contributions, managerial implications and future research suggestions will also be drawn.

The internationalization process of firms has been studied extensively during the past three decades by the Scandinavian researchers (Johanson and Vahlne, 1977 and Luostarinen, 1979), whereas globalization has gained less attention. Research has often been conducted on multinationals originating in the USA and on existing global companies. An unanswered question has been that of how can international companies from small and open economies meet the huge globalization challenge of shifting from international to global and developing global marketing strategies? This study, which focuses on Finnish ICT companies, seeks to shed some light on this by suggesting that business portfolio strategies and business level marketing strategies need to be changed during globalization. The study has several theoretical and managerial implications for academic researchers, business practitioners, and policy-makers and it opens up a possible stream for future research. Four theoretical contributions were identified. First, this research is among the first studies to empirically examine globalizing internationals, i.e. companies that first internationalize and then globalize. Earlier studies have merely recognized the phenomena and postulated early assumptions of their behavior (Gabrielsson and Gabrielsson, 2003a and Luostarinen, 2001). Second, the study received preliminary empirical support from the ICT field that the globalizing internationals will select one or a few from a large number of unrelated international businesses for globalization, which earlier conceptual literature had suggested (see Luostarinen, 2001). The selection process was based on an evaluation of the globalization potential of the various business units as suggested by earlier research (Gupta & Govindarajan, 2000, pp. 46–47). As globalization matures, the globalizing internationals seek further growth through related diversification. Also, an interesting new finding was that the divested units often developed into global businesses. Third, research related to use of a narrow versus a broad scope in marketing strategies has been relatively limited (Porter, 1985, pp. 54–55). This study has supported and brought important new results indicating that marketing strategies change during globalization (Chen and Paliwoda, 2002, Gabrielsson, 2004 and Gabrielsson et al., 2002). The business unit level marketing scope of the globalizing internationals developed from a diversified marketing offering to a focused one when globalization began, but the marketing offering broadened again as globalization proceeded. In contrast, the branding strategy was found to be less disposed to this development and ICT companies from Finland were found to stick with a single brand if possible. Fourth, recognizing that the product strategies become more standardized across countries during globalization of the company is important (see Douglas and Craig, 1989 and Yip, 1989). With respect to brands, the results were somewhat incoherent as some cases moved towards more standardized brands across countries while others continued using customer brands, which then resulted in country-based variation. Furthermore, it was noted in line with earlier research that channel strategies are among the most difficult marketing parameters to be standardized (Rosenbloom et al., 1997). Based on the above theoretical findings, four major managerial implications can also be drawn. First, the study suggests that globalizing companies must first identify the frame of their business environment, resources, and strategic levers. Based on an external and internal analysis, the implications of the globalization approach for the business portfolio and marketing strategy should be considered. This study provides a framework and propositions for transformation of international businesses into global ones. Second, the globalization of a strategic business unit is so demanding in respect of required managerial and financial resources that the implication for corporate level management is that only one or a few strategic business units may be selected for global entry. As total sales are derived increasingly from one or a few strategic businesses during globalization, the importance of strategic business unit level decision-making seems to be increasing. As a result, the corporate and strategic business unit decision-making also becomes highly interlinked. Third, the marketing strategy dimensions that were important for the globalizing internationals were identified: scope and standardization of the marketing programme. The study pinpoints that the need for broadening of the marketing scope during globalization is related merely to product assortment and channel coverage. Furthermore, the standardization of the marketing mix was found to be the most vital with respect to products. The study also provides a fruitful starting point for four interesting future study areas. First, it would be interesting to test the developed propositions in a large international survey in ICT or some other similar field. The survey methodology would allow increased generalizability of the results presented in this research. Second, it would be interesting to compare the results of the marketing strategies of globalizing internationals found in this study with the research on born globals (see, e.g. Luostarinen and Gabrielsson, 2004 and Oviatt and McDougall, 1994). This might yield interesting findings on differences in marketing strategies of these two globalization approaches (Gabrielsson & Gabrielsson, 2003b). Third, the framework developed is also expected to be useful for studying the development of business operation modes and strategies of globalizing internationals in depth. Finally, a deeper understanding of co-operation with different value network members could bring interesting findings. For example, how co-operation partners could be used for adapting products and the marketing offering based on country and customer needs, while the producer could focus on a relatively standardized offering.