Digitalization has reshaped the internationalization process of most firms, especially giving a new way for digital firms. Most of the previous research was based on the internationalization of developed countries, and the perspectives of emerging markets were relatively limited, and digital firms were also no exception. Exploring the uncharted territory of international business was the main motivation for writing this thesis, which aims to investigate motives and the internationalization path through the case study of four companies from China, the most representative emerging market. The findings show that the motivation of digital firms from emerging markets is influenced by internal factors and contextual factors such as institutional settings. Their choice of markets is determined by the social distance and digital level of the host countries, as well as market potential. They tend to actively choose to enter foreign markets by developing strategic local networks and striking a balance between replicating domestic strategies and localization. Besides, adapting to the local business environment and how to deal with digital security issues are challenging their performance in new markets.

Digital services have immeasurably transformed the world economy, and so people’s lives, over the past two decades. One industry where digitalization has been slower is the financial services. Nevertheless, this has changed in the past years with the emergence of fintech companies disrupting the traditional banks and payment solutions. Several studies have researched the internationalization process of digital born globals across different industries. However, due to how recent and emerging the fintech industry is, the area is understudied. To gain insight on the internationalization process of digital born globals within the fintech industry this study was based on an empirical multiple-case study including 4 fintech companies from Sweden and Finland. The main finding of this study is that fintech firms do not expand like other digital born globals but instead follow a more traditional, incremental internationalization process. We also observed that fintech companies used an online entry strategy initially allowing a fast entry process. In some cases, they also established offline presence. Overall, we hope to contribute to theory by giving insight on which factors that cause fintech companies to expand, how the internationalization process looks, how external partnerships might influence, and which challenges they might face.

In the past decade, the financial industry has been criticized to lack a faster digital transformation to provide more efficient services, where FinTech (a neologism generated from the contraction of “(Fin)ancial” and “(Tech)nology”) start-ups or fintechs represent a paradigm shift to reinvent the industry. FinTech is gaining attention in multiple academic disciplines, however, it was found that it has been neglected from the international business discipline to understand the internationalization process of fintechs. Furthermore, as the financial industry is an important cornerstone to foster economic growth and social welfare, particularly in the context of Latin American emerging countries, lack of studies in this context also motivated the development of this thesis. The purpose of this study is to accommodate FinTech in the international business discipline drawing from network theory and born-digital firms’ characteristics, emphasizing on core activities within the digital value chain to analyze the internationalization process and identify the main challenges. A conceptual framework was developed to analyze the internationalization process of Ecuadorian fintechs and the challenges faced. The research has a qualitative approach, employing multiple case studies strategy, where semi-structured interviews with founders and senior managers of four Ecuadorian fintechs were conducted. Empirical findings showed that despite having a high digital value chain and take advantage of internet technologies to internationalize faster, Ecuadorian fintechs followed a gradual regional expansion within Latin American countries and their internationalization process was mostly network-driven. Furthermore, besides the most prominent internationalization challenges such as liabilities of outsidership (LoO) and institutional regulations, additional resource-related internationalization challenges were found such as funding, skilled IT talents and innovation, which raise the importance to emphasize in such challenges for further research.

Digitalized companies are adding complexity to the theory of internationalization. In order to gain momentum in a foreign market, knowledge about specific regional aspects and customers’ behavior is crucial. In a modern business environment, data supports decisions, enhances performance, and contributes to innovative business models. Due to its unique characteristics, data is perceived as a hidden, yet valuable asset. In this thesis, I am comparing the role of data in two types of companies in a qualitative empirical study of German ventures. As a company intern data gathering practice, truly digital firms are expected to take advantage of digital platforms in the context of internationalization. Information and Communication Technology companies are supposed to collect data by enhancing their physical products with Internet of Things applications or -interfaces (Lee and Lee, 2015; Monaghan et al., 2020). I am arguing that the process of internationalization is driven by data, in both types of companies. My results are indicating that digital platforms are the primary method of gathering information about foreign markets. The importance of Internet of Things increases on a subsequent stage, during the process of internationalization. An integral perception of data and its versatile areas of application can create a nourishing ground for business opportunities.

This thesis focus lies on the topic of business ecosystems and their use for digital firms in their internationalisation. The aim is to investigate the value creation and capture process for digital firms through the perspective of business ecosystems. For this endeavour, different concepts such as the born digital theory, key interlinked internationalisation process theories and business ecosystems theory are described throughout the literature review. Other models of previous researchers are used as a foundation to render an own created framework that is more applicable to the scenario and combination of the three aspects this paper investigates. The knowledge gap defined by the authors is about adding new insights on the ecosystem perspective in international businesses by exploring the value creation and capture process of born digitals. Furthermore, it will display the bottlenecks and benefits deriving from a business ecosystem. This leads to the research questions investigating the utilisation of business ecosystems for value creation and capture in internationalisation of digital firms, as well as the bottlenecks and benefits that come with it. For the empirical data collection to receive insights on the research questions and successfully draw conclusions, semi-structured interviews were conducted within the scope of a multiple case study. In addition, secondary data from various authors and experts in the respective research areas were used to bedrock the findings.As the results of the study showed, business ecosystems are greatly appreciated and utilised by digital firms. Moreover, they create value for them and let them strive in many ways, such as focusing on their core business, to succeed and be able to enter new markets. This is only possible with the cooperation of the various actors in the business ecosystem. Nevertheless, there are also severe bottlenecks that have been brought to light that reach beyond what has been present in the literature and considered by other scholars, as well as benefits that keep them competitive. Furthermore, this study provides managerial implications on how to deal with the liability of outsidership and smallness, and for the policy implications, that policymakers should be aware of global and political issues, and their impact on businesses.

Over the years, internationalization has seen significant shifts, especially in the financial industry where fintech firms blending technology and finance have sparked a revolution. Sweden has emerged as one of the global leaders in this sector. However, despite this transformation, existing studies on the internationalization process of fintech firms lack context and industry-specific insights, indicating a pressing need for further research in this area. Therefore, this thesis investigates the intricate internationalization process of small Swedish fintech firms with a digital and technological foundation. We aim to uncover the motives and patterns driving their early international expansion process. By conducting an in-depth case study of a single Swedish fintech firm, utilizing semi-structured interviews with employees with different positions as well as secondary data, this methodological approach allowed us to reveal new insights. More specifically, our research contributed to an identification of three distinct stages in the internationalization process: (1) motives centered on the product, prompting swift digital export strategies, (2) motives focused on the customer, leading to a shift from broad to deep engagement through localization and (3) motives based on strategic resources, guiding a measured expansion in markets optimized for regulatory conditions. These stages are shaped by entrepreneurial vision and national support, highlighting a dynamic and iterative process of international growth as well as a temporal aspect of the process development throughout these stages. In theory, this thesis expands comprehension and questions the idea of a one-size-fits-all internationalization strategy for fintech companies. It demonstrates that Swedish fintech firms employ a hybrid approach, integrating early internationalization with gradual methods. In practice, the research furnishes valuable perspectives for fintech executives, investors and policymakers, presenting a strategic model to enhance internationalization strategies, evaluate risks and facilitate regulatory adaptations. These contributions enrich discussions in fintech literature, potentially aiding fintech enterprises, both in Sweden and globally, in effectively planning their internationalization endeavors.

En digital Born Global expanderar tidigt efter sitt grundande till nya internationella marknader, trots att en begränsning i erfarenhet och resurser finns i verksamheten. I en internationaliseringskontext varierar marknadsförutsättningarna sett till vilka externa hot eller möjligheter som ställer krav på lokal anpassning av verksamheten och affärsmodellen. Samtidigt agerar digitala Born Globals ofta i intensiva konkurrenslandskap, vilket ställer ytterligare krav på differentiering och utveckling. Affärsmodellsinnovation har möjlighet att bidra med ett resurseffektivt sätt att skapa hållbara konkurrensfördelar för en digital Born Global. Trots det finns ett begränsat antal studier som undersöker hur affärsmodellsinnovation sker inom de kontextuella förutsättningar som en digital Born Global möter i sin internationalisering. Den här studien syftar därför till att undersöka hur förutsättningarna för en digital Born Global i dess internationalisering påverkar dess affärsmodellsinnovation. Studien innefattar en litteraturstudie och en kvalitativ enfallsstudie. I litteraturstudien identifierades ett kunskapsgap mellan teori kring vilka förutsättningar en Born Global möter i sin internationalisering och hur affärsmodellsinnovation utformas inom denna kontext. Empiriska data erhölls från elva semistrukturerade intervjuer med personer som varit involverade i marknadsexpansioner på studiens valda fallföretag. Då empiriska data behandlat aktörer eller händelser utanför fallföretaget har triangulering av data skett med hjälp av externa källor. Studiens resultat visar på att en digital Born Global, på grund av intensiv konkurrens och en upplevd komplexitet i det digitala värdeerbjudandet, genomför affärsmodellsinnovation tidigt efter att marknadsinträden skett. Det skiljer sig från tidigare teorier som menar att innovation av affärsmodellen främst nyttjas i en senare, mer etablerad marknadsfas. Den upplevda komplexiteten som förhindrar kunder och externa nätverksrelationer att förstå värdet i det digitala värdeerbjudandet innebär även att affärsmodellsinnovation främst genomförs inkrementellt utifrån en central grund i affärsmodellen. Det möjliggörs av den skalbarhet som digitala företag ofta innehar. En digital Born Global har även möjlighet att expandera internationellt utan att etablera fysisk närvaro. Trots det påvisar studien att en fysisk närvaro enbart underlättar affärsmodellsinnovation som relaterar till leverantörsdelen av värdekedjan, men inte påverkar innovationer ut mot slutkund. Med en begränsad fysisk närvaro ökar beroendet av ett starkt lokalt nätverk, vilket även avspeglas i utformningen av affärsmodellsinnovationen. Utifrån studiens slutsatser rekommenderas en digital Born Global att genomföra affärsmodellsinnovation utifrån en tydlig definierad central grund av affärsmodellen som sedan byggs på med lokala marknadsanpassningar. Affärsmodellsinnovationen bör även främja utvecklingen av det lokala nätverket så att resurser inom det kan nyttjas.