Electronic commercebased internationalisation of small, nicheoriented retailing companies
Identifieur interne : 001C43 ( Istex/Corpus ); précédent : 001C42; suivant : 001C44Electronic commercebased internationalisation of small, nicheoriented retailing companies
Auteurs : Thomas Foscht ; Bernhard Swoboda ; Dirk MorschettSource :
- International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management [ 0959-0552 ] ; 2006-07-01.
Abstract
Purpose The main object of this research paper is to analyse the dynamic internationalisation process in small retailing firms, achieved on the basis of electronic commerce a combination that has seldom been investigated. An analysis of dynamic internationalisation in companies presumes that the businesses concerned are observed over a longer period of time, which is why the paper focuses on the case of one specific company. Designmethodologyapproach The basis of the analysis is a theorybased framework which refers to two opposing approaches in international management, namely the incremental, experiential learning perspective, and the revolutionary perspective. The framework and the case study look specifically at marketoriented, supply sideoriented, and management processes. Based on an extended case study on a small, bornglobal firm, the many facets of increasing professionalisation have been documented. Findings The paper shows that small, nicheoriented companies can be successful internationally and achieve growth. The process of dynamic internationalisation is both incremental and revolutionary. The special feature in the present case lies in the fact that the small company was able to internationalise via electronic commerce, which was possible without capital investments and indepth foreign activities, unlike other forms of internationalisation, which is already evident from other small retailers on the web. Blue Tomato succeeded in reaching crossnational market segments, with a specific scene orientation and which also share snowboarders' attitude to life, by means of interactive scene relationship management. This focused scene orientation is one of the key differences compared with other catalogue retailers, especially larger ones. Originalityvalue The originality of the paper lies in the fact that the subject of internationalisation is investigated particularly from the point of view of small retail companies. This contrasts with many other papers focusing on large retailing companies. In addition, the paper looks at the dynamic perspective of internationalisation and change processes. The present paper could be a small step towards gaining an understanding of international change based on electronic commerce.
Url:
DOI: 10.1108/09590550610673626
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ISTEX:A4AE38E13506D6C4968C5F00FA0B930BCA7DB7E1Le document en format XML
<record><TEI wicri:istexFullTextTei="biblStruct"><teiHeader><fileDesc><titleStmt><title xml:lang="en">Electronic commercebased internationalisation of small, nicheoriented retailing companies</title><author><name sortKey="Foscht, Thomas" sort="Foscht, Thomas" uniqKey="Foscht T" first="Thomas" last="Foscht">Thomas Foscht</name><affiliation><mods:affiliation>Department of Marketing and Retailing, University of Graz, Graz, Austria</mods:affiliation></affiliation></author><author><name sortKey="Swoboda, Bernhard" sort="Swoboda, Bernhard" uniqKey="Swoboda B" first="Bernhard" last="Swoboda">Bernhard Swoboda</name><affiliation><mods:affiliation>Department of Marketing and Retailing, University of Trier, Trier, Germany</mods:affiliation></affiliation></author><author><name sortKey="Morschett, Dirk" sort="Morschett, Dirk" uniqKey="Morschett D" first="Dirk" last="Morschett">Dirk Morschett</name><affiliation><mods:affiliation>Department of Retailing and International Management, Saarland University, Saarbruecken, Germany</mods:affiliation></affiliation></author></titleStmt><publicationStmt><idno type="wicri:source">ISTEX</idno><idno type="RBID">ISTEX:A4AE38E13506D6C4968C5F00FA0B930BCA7DB7E1</idno><date when="2006" year="2006">2006</date><idno type="doi">10.1108/09590550610673626</idno><idno type="url">https://api.istex.fr/document/A4AE38E13506D6C4968C5F00FA0B930BCA7DB7E1/fulltext/pdf</idno><idno type="wicri:Area/Istex/Corpus">001C43</idno><idno type="wicri:explorRef" wicri:stream="Istex" wicri:step="Corpus" wicri:corpus="ISTEX">001C43</idno></publicationStmt><sourceDesc><biblStruct><analytic><title level="a" type="main" xml:lang="en">Electronic commercebased internationalisation of small, nicheoriented retailing companies</title><author><name sortKey="Foscht, Thomas" sort="Foscht, Thomas" uniqKey="Foscht T" first="Thomas" last="Foscht">Thomas Foscht</name><affiliation><mods:affiliation>Department of Marketing and Retailing, University of Graz, Graz, Austria</mods:affiliation></affiliation></author><author><name sortKey="Swoboda, Bernhard" sort="Swoboda, Bernhard" uniqKey="Swoboda B" first="Bernhard" last="Swoboda">Bernhard Swoboda</name><affiliation><mods:affiliation>Department of Marketing and Retailing, University of Trier, Trier, Germany</mods:affiliation></affiliation></author><author><name sortKey="Morschett, Dirk" sort="Morschett, Dirk" uniqKey="Morschett D" first="Dirk" last="Morschett">Dirk Morschett</name><affiliation><mods:affiliation>Department of Retailing and International Management, Saarland University, Saarbruecken, Germany</mods:affiliation></affiliation></author></analytic><monogr></monogr><series><title level="j">International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management</title><idno type="ISSN">0959-0552</idno><imprint><publisher>Emerald Group Publishing Limited</publisher><date type="published" when="2006-07-01">2006-07-01</date><biblScope unit="volume">34</biblScope><biblScope unit="issue">7</biblScope><biblScope unit="page" from="556">556</biblScope><biblScope unit="page" to="572">572</biblScope></imprint><idno type="ISSN">0959-0552</idno></series><idno type="istex">A4AE38E13506D6C4968C5F00FA0B930BCA7DB7E1</idno><idno type="DOI">10.1108/09590550610673626</idno><idno type="filenameID">0890340704</idno><idno type="original-pdf">0890340704.pdf</idno><idno type="href">09590550610673626.pdf</idno></biblStruct></sourceDesc><seriesStmt><idno type="ISSN">0959-0552</idno></seriesStmt></fileDesc><profileDesc><textClass></textClass><langUsage><language ident="en">en</language></langUsage></profileDesc></teiHeader><front><div type="abstract">Purpose The main object of this research paper is to analyse the dynamic internationalisation process in small retailing firms, achieved on the basis of electronic commerce a combination that has seldom been investigated. An analysis of dynamic internationalisation in companies presumes that the businesses concerned are observed over a longer period of time, which is why the paper focuses on the case of one specific company. Designmethodologyapproach The basis of the analysis is a theorybased framework which refers to two opposing approaches in international management, namely the incremental, experiential learning perspective, and the revolutionary perspective. The framework and the case study look specifically at marketoriented, supply sideoriented, and management processes. Based on an extended case study on a small, bornglobal firm, the many facets of increasing professionalisation have been documented. Findings The paper shows that small, nicheoriented companies can be successful internationally and achieve growth. The process of dynamic internationalisation is both incremental and revolutionary. The special feature in the present case lies in the fact that the small company was able to internationalise via electronic commerce, which was possible without capital investments and indepth foreign activities, unlike other forms of internationalisation, which is already evident from other small retailers on the web. Blue Tomato succeeded in reaching crossnational market segments, with a specific scene orientation and which also share snowboarders' attitude to life, by means of interactive scene relationship management. This focused scene orientation is one of the key differences compared with other catalogue retailers, especially larger ones. Originalityvalue The originality of the paper lies in the fact that the subject of internationalisation is investigated particularly from the point of view of small retail companies. This contrasts with many other papers focusing on large retailing companies. In addition, the paper looks at the dynamic perspective of internationalisation and change processes. The present paper could be a small step towards gaining an understanding of international change based on electronic commerce.</div></front></TEI><istex><corpusName>emerald</corpusName><author><json:item><name>Thomas Foscht</name><affiliations><json:string>Department of Marketing and Retailing, University of Graz, Graz, Austria</json:string></affiliations></json:item><json:item><name>Bernhard Swoboda</name><affiliations><json:string>Department of Marketing and Retailing, University of Trier, Trier, Germany</json:string></affiliations></json:item><json:item><name>Dirk Morschett</name><affiliations><json:string>Department of Retailing and International Management, Saarland University, Saarbruecken, Germany</json:string></affiliations></json:item></author><subject><json:item><lang><json:string>eng</json:string></lang><value>Electronic commerce</value></json:item><json:item><lang><json:string>eng</json:string></lang><value>Strategic marketing</value></json:item><json:item><lang><json:string>eng</json:string></lang><value>Retailing</value></json:item><json:item><lang><json:string>eng</json:string></lang><value>Small to mediumsized enterprises</value></json:item></subject><language><json:string>eng</json:string></language><originalGenre><json:string>case-report</json:string></originalGenre><abstract>Purpose The main object of this research paper is to analyse the dynamic internationalisation process in small retailing firms, achieved on the basis of electronic commerce a combination that has seldom been investigated. An analysis of dynamic internationalisation in companies presumes that the businesses concerned are observed over a longer period of time, which is why the paper focuses on the case of one specific company. Designmethodologyapproach The basis of the analysis is a theorybased framework which refers to two opposing approaches in international management, namely the incremental, experiential learning perspective, and the revolutionary perspective. The framework and the case study look specifically at marketoriented, supply sideoriented, and management processes. Based on an extended case study on a small, bornglobal firm, the many facets of increasing professionalisation have been documented. Findings The paper shows that small, nicheoriented companies can be successful internationally and achieve growth. The process of dynamic internationalisation is both incremental and revolutionary. The special feature in the present case lies in the fact that the small company was able to internationalise via electronic commerce, which was possible without capital investments and indepth foreign activities, unlike other forms of internationalisation, which is already evident from other small retailers on the web. Blue Tomato succeeded in reaching crossnational market segments, with a specific scene orientation and which also share snowboarders' attitude to life, by means of interactive scene relationship management. This focused scene orientation is one of the key differences compared with other catalogue retailers, especially larger ones. Originalityvalue The originality of the paper lies in the fact that the subject of internationalisation is investigated particularly from the point of view of small retail companies. This contrasts with many other papers focusing on large retailing companies. 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An analysis of dynamic internationalisation in companies presumes that the businesses concerned are observed over a longer period of time, which is why the paper focuses on the case of one specific company. Designmethodologyapproach The basis of the analysis is a theorybased framework which refers to two opposing approaches in international management, namely the incremental, experiential learning perspective, and the revolutionary perspective. The framework and the case study look specifically at marketoriented, supply sideoriented, and management processes. Based on an extended case study on a small, bornglobal firm, the many facets of increasing professionalisation have been documented. Findings The paper shows that small, nicheoriented companies can be successful internationally and achieve growth. The process of dynamic internationalisation is both incremental and revolutionary. The special feature in the present case lies in the fact that the small company was able to internationalise via electronic commerce, which was possible without capital investments and indepth foreign activities, unlike other forms of internationalisation, which is already evident from other small retailers on the web. Blue Tomato succeeded in reaching crossnational market segments, with a specific scene orientation and which also share snowboarders' attitude to life, by means of interactive scene relationship management. This focused scene orientation is one of the key differences compared with other catalogue retailers, especially larger ones. Originalityvalue The originality of the paper lies in the fact that the subject of internationalisation is investigated particularly from the point of view of small retail companies. This contrasts with many other papers focusing on large retailing companies. In addition, the paper looks at the dynamic perspective of internationalisation and change processes. The present paper could be a small step towards gaining an understanding of international change based on electronic commerce.</p></abstract><textClass><keywords scheme="keyword"><list><head>keywords</head><item><term>Electronic commerce</term></item><item><term>Strategic marketing</term></item><item><term>Retailing</term></item><item><term>Small to mediumsized enterprises</term></item></list></keywords></textClass><textClass><keywords scheme="Emerald Subject Group"><list><label>cat-MSOP</label><item><term>Management science & operations</term></item><label>cat-LOG</label><item><term>Logistics</term></item><label>cat-DMS</label><item><term>Distribution management & systems</term></item></list></keywords></textClass><textClass><keywords scheme="Emerald Subject Group"><list><label>cat-MARK</label><item><term>Marketing</term></item><label>cat-DCM</label><item><term>Distribution channels & markets</term></item><label>cat-MSM</label><item><term>Marketing strategy/methods</term></item><label>cat-RET</label><item><term>Retailing</term></item></list></keywords></textClass></profileDesc><revisionDesc><change when="2006-07-01">Published</change></revisionDesc></teiHeader></istex:fulltextTEI><json:item><extension>txt</extension><original>false</original><mimetype>text/plain</mimetype><uri>https://api.istex.fr/document/A4AE38E13506D6C4968C5F00FA0B930BCA7DB7E1/fulltext/txt</uri></json:item></fulltext><metadata><istex:metadataXml wicri:clean="corpus emerald not found" wicri:toSee="no header"><istex:xmlDeclaration>version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"</istex:xmlDeclaration><istex:document><!-- Auto generated NISO JATS XML created by Atypon out of MCB DTD source files. Do Not Edit! --><article dtd-version="1.0" xml:lang="en" article-type="case-report"><front><journal-meta><journal-id journal-id-type="publisher-id">ijrdm</journal-id><journal-id journal-id-type="doi">10.1108/ijrdm</journal-id><journal-title-group><journal-title>International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management</journal-title></journal-title-group><issn pub-type="ppub">0959-0552</issn><publisher><publisher-name>Emerald Group Publishing Limited</publisher-name></publisher></journal-meta><article-meta><article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.1108/09590550610673626</article-id><article-id pub-id-type="original-pdf">0890340704.pdf</article-id><article-id pub-id-type="filename">0890340704</article-id><article-categories><subj-group subj-group-type="type-of-publication"><compound-subject><compound-subject-part content-type="code">case-report</compound-subject-part><compound-subject-part content-type="label">Case study</compound-subject-part></compound-subject></subj-group><subj-group subj-group-type="subject"><compound-subject><compound-subject-part content-type="code">cat-MSOP</compound-subject-part><compound-subject-part content-type="label">Management science & operations</compound-subject-part></compound-subject><subj-group><compound-subject><compound-subject-part content-type="code">cat-LOG</compound-subject-part><compound-subject-part content-type="label">Logistics</compound-subject-part></compound-subject><subj-group><compound-subject><compound-subject-part content-type="code">cat-DMS</compound-subject-part><compound-subject-part content-type="label">Distribution management & systems</compound-subject-part></compound-subject></subj-group></subj-group></subj-group><subj-group subj-group-type="subject"><compound-subject><compound-subject-part content-type="code">cat-MARK</compound-subject-part><compound-subject-part content-type="label">Marketing</compound-subject-part></compound-subject><subj-group><compound-subject><compound-subject-part content-type="code">cat-DCM</compound-subject-part><compound-subject-part content-type="label">Distribution channels & markets</compound-subject-part></compound-subject><subj-group><compound-subject><compound-subject-part content-type="code">cat-RET</compound-subject-part><compound-subject-part content-type="label">Retailing</compound-subject-part></compound-subject></subj-group></subj-group><subj-group><compound-subject><compound-subject-part content-type="code">cat-MSM</compound-subject-part><compound-subject-part content-type="label">Marketing strategy/methods</compound-subject-part></compound-subject></subj-group></subj-group></article-categories><title-group><article-title>Electronic commerce‐based internationalisation of small, niche‐oriented retailing companies</article-title><subtitle>The case of Blue Tomato and the Snowboard industry</subtitle></title-group><contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author"><string-name><given-names>Thomas</given-names> <surname>Foscht</surname></string-name><aff>Department of Marketing and Retailing, University of Graz, Graz, Austria</aff></contrib><x></x><contrib contrib-type="author"><string-name><given-names>Bernhard</given-names> <surname>Swoboda</surname></string-name><aff>Department of Marketing and Retailing, University of Trier, Trier, Germany</aff></contrib><x></x><contrib contrib-type="author"><string-name><given-names>Dirk</given-names> <surname>Morschett</surname></string-name><aff>Department of Retailing and International Management, Saarland University, Saarbruecken, Germany</aff></contrib></contrib-group><pub-date pub-type="ppub"><day>01</day><month>07</month><year>2006</year></pub-date><volume>34</volume><issue>7</issue><issue-title>Retail insights: e‐commerce</issue-title><issue-title content-type="short">E‐commerce</issue-title><fpage>556</fpage><lpage>572</lpage><permissions><copyright-statement>© Emerald Group Publishing Limited</copyright-statement><copyright-year>2006</copyright-year><license license-type="publisher"><license-p></license-p></license></permissions><self-uri content-type="pdf" xlink:href="09590550610673626.pdf"></self-uri><abstract><sec><title content-type="abstract-heading">Purpose</title><x> – </x><p>The main object of this research paper is to analyse the dynamic internationalisation process in small retailing firms, achieved on the basis of electronic commerce – a combination that has seldom been investigated. An analysis of dynamic internationalisation in companies presumes that the businesses concerned are observed over a longer period of time, which is why the paper focuses on the case of one specific company.</p></sec><sec><title content-type="abstract-heading">Design/methodology/approach</title><x> – </x><p>The basis of the analysis is a theory‐based framework which refers to two opposing approaches in international management, namely the incremental, experiential learning perspective, and the revolutionary perspective. The framework and the case study look specifically at market‐oriented, supply side‐oriented, and management processes. Based on an extended case study on a small, born‐global firm, the many facets of increasing professionalisation have been documented.</p></sec><sec><title content-type="abstract-heading">Findings</title><x> – </x><p>The paper shows that small, niche‐oriented companies can be successful internationally and achieve growth. The process of dynamic internationalisation is both incremental and revolutionary. The special feature in the present case lies in the fact that the small company was able to internationalise via electronic commerce, which was possible without capital investments and in‐depth foreign activities, unlike other forms of internationalisation, which is already evident from other small retailers on the web. Blue Tomato succeeded in reaching cross‐national market segments, with a specific scene orientation and which also share snowboarders' attitude to life, by means of inter‐active scene relationship management. This focused scene orientation is one of the key differences compared with other catalogue retailers, especially larger ones.</p></sec><sec><title content-type="abstract-heading">Originality/value</title><x> – </x><p>The originality of the paper lies in the fact that the subject of internationalisation is investigated particularly from the point of view of small retail companies. This contrasts with many other papers focusing on large retailing companies. In addition, the paper looks at the dynamic perspective of internationalisation and change processes. The present paper could be a small step towards gaining an understanding of international change based on electronic commerce.</p></sec></abstract><kwd-group><kwd>Electronic commerce</kwd><x>, </x><kwd>Strategic marketing</kwd><x>, </x><kwd>Retailing</kwd><x>, </x><kwd>Small to medium‐sized enterprises</kwd></kwd-group><custom-meta-group><custom-meta><meta-name>peer-reviewed</meta-name><meta-value>no</meta-value></custom-meta><custom-meta><meta-name>academic-content</meta-name><meta-value>yes</meta-value></custom-meta><custom-meta><meta-name>rightslink</meta-name><meta-value>included</meta-value></custom-meta></custom-meta-group></article-meta></front><body><sec><title>Introduction</title><p>Internationalisation is one of the key factors in European economic development. As WTO‐statistics show, world foreign trade volumes grew from 280 billion US$ in 1970 to 8,900 in 2004, and the direct investment volumes grew from 520 billion US$ in 1980 to 8,200 in 2003 (UNCTAD estimates a slight but steady increase for 2004; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b28">UNCTAD, 2005</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b30">WTO, 2005</xref>). As is generally known, both are dependent on each other: direct investments involve trade, and vice versa. Internationalisation research covers a period of about 35 years, but with the focus on production companies. The internationalisation of modern retailing began in the 1990s, and has seen highly dynamic development. Within only a couple of decades, the largest retailers, such as Carrefour (No. 2 in the world) and the Metro Group (No. 3), have entered the market in around 30 countries and now achieve foreign turnover rates of some 50 per cent (the figures for the world's No. 1 – Wal‐Mart – are 12 and 25 per cent) (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b27">Swoboda <italic>et al.</italic>, 2005</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b26">Swoboda and Schwarz, 2006</xref>). In comparison with other aspects of retail management, however, internationalisation is a topic that is seldom discussed. <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b3">Dawson (1993)</xref> and <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b24">Sparks (1995)</xref> claim theories of internationalisation that are specific to the retail trade. Traditional views are connected with direct investment and learning models (for an overview, see <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b20">Palmer and Quinn, 2005</xref>). Little notice has been given, however, to smaller retailers on the one hand, and not much more to the internationalisation of retail companies by means of electronic commerce on the other. Also, the latter has not included a dynamic perspective.</p><p>In the present contribution we intend to fill some gaps in the literature on this topic. This is why we have introduced a framework for the analysis using the ideas of dynamic internationalisation research, especially the experiential learning perspective and the revolutionary management or born‐global perspective. Owing to the fact that long‐term observation is needed to analyse the dynamic processes of a company's internationalisation, we have focused on the case of one specific company in this paper. The object of the analysis is a medium‐sized Austrian retail company that is niche‐oriented and, as such, attracts a small target group belonging to a specific scene. At the same time, only a few years after being established, this company became active internationally as a result of an internet platform which today is the main source of sales on international markets (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b23">Saban and Rau, 2005</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b7">Jennex <italic>et al.</italic>, 2004</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b4">Doherty <italic>et al.</italic>, 2003</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b31">Zhuang and Lederer, 2003</xref>). We have focused on the dynamic forces and professionalisation of this export‐dominated business and hope that these two perspectives can help provide an approach to understanding increasing internationalisation and professionalisation in small retailing companies operating on an electronic commerce basis.</p><p>The paper is organised in three parts. A brief characterisation of the theoretical views forms the analytical framework. From a dynamic point of view, the example of Blue Tomato will be used to establish how a medium‐sized company has undergone internationalisation ever since it came into being and how this internationalisation process then became increasingly professionalized on the basis of electronic commerce. Structurally, we are guided by the changes in internationally oriented, market‐oriented, supply side‐oriented, and managerial support processes. A discussion of the implications concludes the paper.</p></sec><sec><title>Theoretical perspectives</title><sec><title>General views on the dynamic forces of internationalisation</title><p>A number of existing theories dedicated to the dynamic forces of internationalisation can provide links for the retailing firms. A basis can be found in economic theories (e.g. theories of international trade, product life cycles, direct investment, industrial economy, etc.) innovation‐related models, behaviourist management theories, systematic planning models, contingency theories, etc.<xref ref-type="fn" rid="fn1">[1]</xref>. We emphasise two generic views of international dynamic forces: the incremental and the revolutionary perspectives (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b18">Merlin, 1992</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b29">Van de Ven, 1992</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b25">Swoboda, 2002</xref>).</p><sec><title>Traditional incremental internationalisation</title><p>In Europe, in particular, and in the context of internationalisation, the Uppsala Model has dominated the discussion for years. Similar to the other models (e.g. decision and learning models, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b15">Luostarinen, 1989</xref>, or innovation‐related export models, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b2">Cavusgil <italic>et al.</italic>, 1979</xref>, etc.), the approach of <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b8 b9">Johanson and Vahlne (1977, 1990)</xref> propagates behaviourist and incremental internationalisation. The explanation is based on a cycle of four self‐reinforced constructs adapted from the process of organisational learning and adoption: market knowledge, commitment decision, current activities, and market commitment. Two patterns of incremental internationalisation are distinguished. Internationalisation within a certain market is gradually realised along the so‐called establishment chain, with assistance from the following forms of activity: no regular export activities, export by an independent representative, sales subsidiary, and production facilities abroad. The second pattern refers to the order in which country markets are entered based on the concept of geographic‐psychological distance with concentric circles around the home market. Owing to their intuitive logic, these incremental models form the basis of many empirical investigations on manufacturing firms in, for example, Finland, Turkey, Germany, Japan, Taiwan, the US, and so on. It could be shown that small companies in particular, who have no experience abroad, often pursue the establishment chain. Consequently, there is less literature dealing with the model in a critical way. In the investigation of internationalisation in stationary retailing, the relevance of this classic incremental view seems to be clear, particularly as it is often implemented by large retail companies, however with direct investments in neighbouring markets. As far as the electronically based internationalisation of smaller retailers is concerned, the theory can form a possible framework for gaining a better understanding.</p></sec><sec><title>Revolutionary internationalisation or born‐global firms</title><p>For internationalisation based on electronic commerce, a dynamic, revolutionary approach (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b29">Van de Ven, 1992</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b18">Merlin, 1992</xref>) also appears relevant. This is accessible through, e.g. the holistic GAINS approach (Gestalt approach of internationalisation) in which <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b16">Macharzina and Engelhard (1991)</xref> and <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b25">Swoboda (2002)</xref> focused on contingency and consistency theory, geared to decisions, and they assume that the international development of companies is, above all, completed in a quantum view or change. Expressed in simpler terms, companies develop dynamically and in a revolutionary process, but always move along certain characteristic gestalts: e.g. active and passive exporter, … foreign producers, … up to a transnational perspective (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b1">Bartlett and Ghoshal, 1991</xref>). In terms of the respective international environmental situation, companies assume characteristic forms defined by their environment and by more and more internationally oriented constellations of structures, processes and strategy. This quantum change contradicts the incremental view<xref ref-type="fn" rid="fn2">[2]</xref>.</p><p>In this context, another interesting approach is related to the phenomenon of the born‐global firms, i.e. companies that enter foreign markets immediately or shortly after being established (similar to, for example, born‐international firms, international new ventures, international entrepreneurs, e.g. <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b19">Oviatt and McDougall, 1994</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b11">Knight and Cavusgil, 1996</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b16">Madsen and Servais, 1997</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b10">Jones, 1999</xref>). This also stands in contrast to incremental models and, as such, is a special feature because young companies often do not have the resources, market knowledge, etc. required to enter new international markets. Recently, however this approach has been discussed in connection with the speed at which internationalisation is achieved. The companies on which empirical work is focused already achieved a major part of their sales in foreign markets within three (to six) years after being established, e.g. export sales share of 25 per cent (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b22">Rennie, 1993</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b21">Rasmussen and Madsen, 2002</xref>). Even if research in this field is still in its infancy, some aspects are known that promote the emergence of “born‐internationals”. This relates to existing knowledge on the part of the company's founder that makes technological development and entry to the market easier. In addition, the dynamic forces of the industry, the technology available or also newly established companies in the form of spin‐offs have a favourable effect. The new opportunities offered by electronic commerce, in particular, permit dynamic internationalisation in this pattern.</p></sec></sec><sec><title>An attempted systematic approach to the dynamic structures and processes of change</title><p>Both briefly explained generic views of incremental or revolutionary internationalisation could be important in understanding the dynamic forces and the professionalisation in small retailing firms operating on the basis of electronic commerce. A framework for the analysis will be developed in an extension of the generic perspectives. We will combine this with a value‐added perspective.</p><p>Expressed in brief terms, it is assumed that international development is a compromise derived from a number of different patterns of individual and single collective decisions which may be both evolutionary and revolutionary. In the course of this dynamic process, their variety is channelled through dimensions such as the environment (companies' external context), international strategy decisions and developments in the case of value chain activities, particularly:<list list-type="bullet"><list-item><label>• </label><p>market‐oriented processes and structures;</p></list-item><list-item><label>• </label><p>supply‐oriented processes and structures; and</p></list-item><list-item><label>• </label><p>the management, in this case the structures, processes and culture.</p></list-item></list>By definition we are looking at the changes or the dynamic forces of these aspects within the firm. Additionally, we understand the dynamic forces of internationalisation as being not only a one‐dimensional process. Without discussing this in much depth, the internationalisation of companies unfolds between:<list list-type="bullet"><list-item><label>• </label><p>contextual foreign and institutional self‐determination (external control vs strategic choice, determinism or voluntarism);</p></list-item><list-item><label>• </label><p>intentionally initiated and unplanned spontaneous strategies (purely deliberate vs purely emergent);</p></list-item><list-item><label>• </label><p>revolutionary, intermittent and incremental, continuous procedure (decision and development); and</p></list-item><list-item><label>• </label><p>variations on an ideal rational application that can be explained both individually and collectively (subjective) (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b25">Swoboda, 2002</xref>).</p></list-item></list>The more or less general framework for analysing the international development of small retail companies in electronic commerce cannot be “understood” by applying one single theoretical approach. It can be expressed, however, in an integrative framework, here with the three different levels of change or dynamic forces mentioned<xref ref-type="fn" rid="fn3">[3]</xref>. The obvious assumption is that activities based on electronic commerce become more and more professionalised or they change in different ways as the medium‐sized company becomes increasingly internationalised. The extent to which the increasingly international activities were actually implemented professionally, however, has not been determined. This question should be discussed at three different levels:<list list-type="order"><list-item><label>1. </label><p>What changes can be seen in international marketing, particularly in choice of market, market entry strategy, and market servicing?</p></list-item><list-item><label>2. </label><p>What developments can be noted in retro‐integration retailing value chain activities?</p></list-item><list-item><label>3. </label><p>What major changes can be detected finally in the management structures, processes, and culture?</p></list-item></list></p></sec></sec><sec><title>Professionalisation of internationalisation in the case of Blue Tomato</title><sec><title>The initial situation and the business model</title><p>Blue Tomato is an Austrian company devoted entirely to the trend sport snowboarding. The Blue Tomato company philosophy is described below:<disp-quote><p>Everything for the Snowboarder! Snowboarding is more than a sport. A whole generation of young people have a “snowboard lifestyle”. The Blue Tomato Crew lives this lifestyle and passes the spirit of this lifestyle on to its customers. “No problem” is our motto, and the right mix of business, sport, and pleasure is still the deciding factor. Customer satisfaction is our main focus. Thanks to our special know‐how, every customer receives optimum service tailored to his individual needs.</p></disp-quote></p><p>Blue Tomato can be considered a medium‐sized company from a national point of view. From an international point of view it would be still classified as a small company. The cornerstone of the company was laid by Gerfried Schuller, a former European snowboarding champion, when he opened a snowboard school and a snowboard test centre. The first shop was opened in 1994, covering 70 m<sup>2</sup> (and extended to 350 m<sup>2</sup> in 2000), in the ski resort of Schladming, and this was followed only a year later by steady expansion to several other Austrian ski resorts. Parallel to stationary retailing, early consideration was given to how the internet could be used as a sales channel.</p><p>The first internet presence with international purchasing facilities was implemented in 1997, and in 1999, the first full‐scale online shop was opened. In its broad tendency, the company belongs to the born‐international group. In 2001, the second generation of internet shops went online, making Blue Tomato one of the leading snowboard mail‐order retailers in Europe. A new shop generation is defined by the company as an internet shop, which is based on a completely new technology. Also worth mentioning are the test centres and snowboard schools, which also provide direct customer contact and feedback to the online sector. Today, the internet provides 90 per cent of the company's total sales, and the trend is still pointing upwards (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="F_0890340704001">Figure 1</xref>).</p><p>From the retailing point of view, the Blue Tomato business model is multi‐channel, with online sales gaining more and more importance, particularly in terms of internationalisation, whereas stationary activities are restricted more to the regional market. From the target group perspective, the company has focused on snowboarding and snowboarders from the very beginning. This approach is of the essence because snowboarders are now dissociating themselves more and more distinctly from other groups, and their declared aim is to be “cool”. If a company does not target this group accurately, for example, by having a fuzzy profile or mixing different target groups together, it thus becomes “uncool” and it may be difficult to achieve long‐term success as a result of this. Thus, it is true to say that understanding the customer correctly is the key success factor, especially in this industry.</p><p>The heart of the business model in online retailing is created by the Blue Tomato web site and the over 3,000 products offered there. Among the wealth of functions available, the web site includes multi‐language functions throughout, a well thought‐out order and payment processing system, and comprehensive multi‐media information (photos with product details, videos, etc.). The Blue Tomato pages are viewed by more than 500,000 people every month. One of the reasons for this may also be consistent targeting of the specific customer group. The basic concept for many years has been to provide all the information that may be relevant to the target group and thus, form an online community. In the meantime, the web site offers photo stories of events, picture galleries, competitions, a buyers' guide, test reports, a snowboard dictionary, e‐cards, a guest book, an avalanche guide, as well as a series of partner links, all for this community (for an overview of internet adoption by retailers and services, see <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b6">Hart <italic>et al.</italic>, 2000</xref>). As part of the international marketing strategy derived from the company's philosophy, a considerable change has taken place over the past few years.</p></sec><sec><title>Development of international market‐oriented processes and structures</title><sec><title>Market selection and entry</title><p>At the beginning of the company's history, it concentrated on running snowboard schools, test centres, and lastly, on stationary retailing. From a geographical perspective, all marketing considerations focused initially on the domestic market. When the company embarked on electronic commerce and took its first tentative steps in this direction, the marketing strategy was also adapted and extended.</p><p>While the company had been restricted so far to local markets, suddenly the whole world was accessible for the sale of snowboard products. Although there was no properly formulated internationalisation strategy when electronic commerce was first considered and also no systematic market selection available, efforts became firmly focused on the German‐speaking markets because the web shops were designed in German. In addition to the negligible language barriers, there were little or no barriers in terms of export/customs regulations, a stable exchange rate, and then a common currency for exports to Germany. The form of market entry chosen was that of classic export.</p><p>While the internationalisation strategy remains largely unchanged, a great deal has happened in the past few years in terms of market selection. Although it is still basically possible to place an order with Blue Tomato from any country in the world, a strategy has been developed in the meantime stating which country markets are to be the main focus (now and in the future), which markets are to be handled occasionally, and which markets will not be dealt with at all. The main criteria in the choice of market are market potential, competitive situation, and price level. In addition to the first (historically speaking) countries, which were German‐speaking, further markets were selected according to the criteria mentioned. The preliminary requirement here was to have an English language web shop, which led to other, mainly Western European countries moving into the sights of Blue Tomato's activities. Market analysis was conducted professionally using data from market research institutes, as well as on the basis of data from the company's own research. An overview of Blue Tomato's current activities in individual countries and based on overall sales is provided in <xref ref-type="fig" rid="F_0890340704003">Table I</xref>.</p><p>The markets to be entered or developed further in the near future are mainly in Eastern Europe. In concrete terms, these markets are to be processed by means of increased presence at events and by classic communication in snowboard magazines. There are a number of countries that have been deliberately excluded from marketing activities. This is due to the fact that these countries are in geographic areas where there are no snowboarders for purely climatic reasons and thus, there is very little potential available for Blue Tomato. As a result, these companies have mainly yielded purchase orders for accessories (e.g. sunglasses). Experience has also shown that there are problems with payment attitudes in some countries, and there were also attempts to defraud.</p></sec><sec><title>International market servicing</title><p>The most significant changes can be found in international market servicing, where we would like to focus below on the goods and services offered (sales mix and pricing policy), as well as on communication policy.</p></sec></sec></sec><sec><title>Service program</title><p>The initial considerations in the sales mix policy of Blue Tomato were characterised by the snowboard schools and the test centre. The company concentrated primarily on a range of snowboards and accessories, which also had the disadvantage of making it highly dependent on seasonal changes and on the weather.</p><p>As internationalisation progressed, the sales mix was expanded considerably. In the meantime, Blue Tomato has the largest sales mix world‐wide in online snowboard retailing – according to information published by the company. The entire range of online snowboard retailers contains about ten major competitors world‐wide. In addition to snowboard supplies in the narrower sense (boards, bindings, boots), the sales mix also contains accessories, such as sunglasses, gloves, and textiles that are also suitable for other activities as well as snowboarding. This not only resulted in a considerable increase in sales, but also made the company less susceptible to the influence of seasonal changes and the weather, thus providing greater continuity in terms of sales. While the share of export sales was generated almost entirely from the sale of snowboards in the early years, the share of soft goods has risen continuously over the past few years. In the meantime, the share of these products makes up almost 50 per cent of foreign trade. In the future, the company plans to stick to this path and possibly even market its own snowboard textile brand. Expansion of the sales mix, professionalisation, and consistent multi‐channel thinking have also been reflected in the test centres. Here, more than 900 boards, boots and bindings are now available for testing if a prior reservation is made online.</p><p>In the early years of internationalisation, pricing was a problem that was not easy to handle. This was mainly due to the fact that there are different general legal conditions in the various European countries and also different logistics costs in the individual countries. The price for practically every export enquiry had to be calculated separately.</p><p>In the meantime, the sales price is now calculated in a fully automatic process, with a basic product price calculation forming the basis of each final price calculation. Market‐oriented pricing is equally important. Thus, the prices are adjusted continuously to market conditions in the course of the season. Depending on the country in which the user of the web shop is located (this is normally detected automatically) or depending on which country is selected, the price for the customer in the country in question is displayed on the web site automatically, with any taxes, dispatch costs, etc. being included. Generally, the prices are the same for all customers in all countries and there is no international price differentiation.</p><p>Blue Tomato guarantees lowest prices in its long‐term pricing policy. This means firstly that it is always the lower prices that are charged – for example if a customer orders on the basis of the printed catalogue and prices have been reduced in the meantime. And secondly, the customer can return the product within ten days or request a credit note if the same product is available at a lower price anywhere in Europe. Thus, international pricing policy in particular has developed into an instrument that is used in a professional manner.</p></sec><sec><title>Communication</title><p>In the beginning, Blue Tomato communications were very simple, as is the case in many small companies. While the first printed matter was home‐made or the first tomato for the company logo was taken from a Clip‐Art collection, an advertising agency was hired in 2000 to make the corporate design more professional. The web sites, where numerous communication facilities specific to the target group can be displayed in addition to the actual products, are a central factor in Blue Tomato communication and for distribution. At the moment, work is progressing on a third generation of the web shop, where even more facilities are to be added.</p><p>The multi‐channel strategy was extended in 2002 by issuing a printed snowboard catalogue (with a print run of 130,000 in the first year). In the meantime, the catalogue containing well over 100 pages and issued in two languages will be produced in a print run of 320,000 next winter. It will be enclosed with leading magazines, such as SnowboarderMBM or Pleasure, as well as being posted directly to more than 80,000 potential customers. The printed catalogue has contributed to and extended online business. While some customers enjoy “surfing” through a printed catalogue that they can take with them anywhere, the actual purchase orders all go through the Blue Tomato web shop. In direct communication, a newsletter is sent out regularly. This presents new products, special offers and events to more than 75,000 people. There is also direct contact to the customer by telephone and e‐mail. In the high season (October to February), inquiries are processed daily by three employees, and a customer advice service is provided by experienced snowboarders – all employees are themselves enthusiastic “boarders”. In addition, Blue Tomato has a presence at snowboard events. The so‐called Blue Tomato chill lounge tours with everything from beanbags, competitions and info material, to various events, such Air&Style in Tyrol, the boarder week in Val Thorens, or the BOS Tourstopp in Poland.</p><p>A major international communication tool for a company the size of Blue Tomato is co‐operation because this makes good use of synergies. Blue Tomato co‐operates with a number of partner web sites and thus, achieves excellent presence within the target group, while keeping the costs within justifiable limits. In addition, the forms of communication that are ascribed to below‐the‐line measures, such as sponsoring, are being targeted more and more rigorously by Blue Tomato. Although this instrument was hardly used in the pioneering days, there are now 14 snowboarders – so‐called Teamriders – who have a contract with Blue Tomato. In addition, the company also sponsors some snowboard parks. In the meantime, Blue Tomato has reached the highest level of communication through its affiliate programme. Here, the company co‐operates with various snowboard portals throughout Europe. In addition to simply exchanging links, the Blue Tomato web shop allows partners to integrate parts of the shop into their own portal. This too advances international expansion.</p><p>In terms of the style and content of Blue Tomato communication, it was noted that this aspect certainly lived up to the target group's expectations right from the start. It was essential to retain the same relevant topics in communications and the same humour as the target group. By way of example, stickers were produced for snowboarders to stick onto their boards, showing not only the Blue Tomato logo, but also a tally list intended for marking off how many skiers the snowboarder had “mowed down”. In printed communication in the form of advertisements and posters, the main emphasis is placed on emotionalising and communicating the brand name (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="F_0890340704002">Plate 1</xref>).</p><sec><title>Development of supply‐oriented processes and structures</title><sec><title>Procurement and relationship with suppliers</title><p>Against a background of intensive contact with the customer on the spot and a high level of involvement by all Blue Tomato employees in snowboarding, the company has always found it relatively easy to sniff out trends and developments in the snowboard scene at a relatively early stage and to take account of them in planning the sales mix. Understandably, the company was still more or less obliged to take an actionistic approach in the first few years. In the meantime, however, the procurement sector has been organised professionally and is linked just as closely to sales mix planning as the starting point, as it is to supplier relationships and logistics planning.</p><p>As a general principle, sales mix planning takes place at a very early stage. There is a general consensus as early as January/February as to which products are to be purchased in which amounts and at what prices, although the high season does not begin until October and the basic sales volume is not achieved until then. Some 80 per cent of the total annual sales are booked between October and February.</p><p>Negotiations with suppliers run more or less according to classic patterns, i.e. in personal negotiations, with Blue Tomato's activities being much more professional nowadays than in the early years, especially the preparation work. For example, the relevant sales forecasts for individual brands or categories are always available before negotiations begin. In addition, procurement markets are processed actively, also by sounding out suppliers at the various specialised trade fairs, such as ISPO in Munich. In the core sales sector – in this case, snowboards – the company originally concentrated on the main brands, not least because this was the only possible solution in view of the personnel capacity available at the time. We should mention here that the brand with the largest share of the market – Burton – holds a dominating position. In the meantime, however, the sales mix has been extended to also cover many market niches with goods from small manufacturers, and this was only possible with professionalisation and automation of the procurement sector. Financing of the goods covers the entire spectrum from payment more or less on the nose, to down payment with payment of the balance after the turn of the year – depending on how powerful the supplier is. The next challenge on the road to achieving retro‐integration is to introduce own Blue Tomato brands.</p><p>Viewed from the logistic perspective, the manufacturers currently supply the products to the Blue Tomato logistics centre, normally by parcel service or forwarding agent. Since, there are no large‐volume goods, no particular rationalisation effects are envisaged here. As regards personnel, purchasing is handled by three employees, however they do not devote all of their time to this work, but also have other tasks to handle.</p></sec><sec><title>Logistic (information) processes</title><p>The Blue Tomato logistics centre recently moved to a new building with an area of over 1,300 m<sup>2</sup>, which houses the entire management as well as the customer services department that deals with customer contacts, e.g. telephone or e‐mail advice, receipt of purchase orders, or provides various information.</p><p>In addition to the physical expansion and optimum design of the storage areas, massive investments were also made in the software sector to control organisational processes. Since, these form the core of the entire business model, the software was individually programmed for Blue Tomato and is adapted continuously to the company's requirements. Purchase orders are generally processed on the day of receipt, the goods are prepared for the customer and packed, and then dispatched. The goods are dispatched using different parcel service providers (within the EU, goods are dispatched through DPD, outside the EU through DHL, and to Switzerland by post). Goods to be delivered to non‐EU countries are cleared for customs directly by the customer in the country of delivery. Blue Tomato only provides the documents required for this process.</p><p>A series of checkpoints allows employees and – to a limited extent – also customers to trace the status of a purchase order or delivery at any given time. In addition, the stationary retail shops in the ski resorts are also supplied from the company's own logistics centre.</p></sec></sec><sec><title>Development of management structures, processes and culture</title><p>When the company first came into being, there was a vision, an idea, and a few friends with one thing in common – they enjoyed snowboarding. The first few years in the company were conducted in a friendly, relaxed atmosphere, where the main objective was to make some money in addition to having fun together. In the meantime, however, these structures and also the objectives have changed entirely. Tasks are assigned clearly in a way that is reminiscent of classic business organisation, and there is also an entirely different company culture. The company's culture is still highly growth‐oriented, and although the strong leadership of the company's founder still plays a formative role, we should state that the company's culture is clearly dominated by democratic characteristics.</p><p>The basic structure comprises two separate sectors. The snowboard schools are largely grouped together in the service sector. The individual snowboard schools are managed with a reasonable degree of autonomy by the staff there, who have been doing this work for several years now, and employ more than 40 snowboard instructors. In the retail sector, both stationary retailing (each shop here is managed with a reasonable degree of autonomy by a branch manager) and mail‐order are grouped together. In the international sector of mail‐order retailing, the main departments are dispatch and customer services. Cross‐sectional functions are covered by marketing, communications, and the IT department. Marketing handles strategic (also co‐operation with partner companies) and also operative tasks (such as participation in events, etc.). The managers responsible for the individual sectors are also consulted on strategic decisions made in the course of internationalisation, such as when to enter which market(s) and by which means, but the actual decision is taken by the company management.</p><p>Most primary and complementary activities are handled by the company itself, including book‐keeping. Only non‐periodic activities, analyses and services in accounting and controlling are outsourced to a consulting firm.</p><p>In view of increasing internationalisation, the personnel sector has sought recently to find employees who speak the language of the specific target market in order to gain a better foothold there. Although this aspect is less important for the web shop in the narrower sense, it can greatly facilitate access to markets, particularly in co‐operation on events, and such like. This strategy will also be pursued in the future. Although the significance of the international markets has increased continuously over the past few years and the range of employee nationalities has become more and more colourful in recent years, the company language is still (Snowboarder's) German. An annual average of 35 employees work for Blue Tomato in the e‐commerce sector – about 15 employees in the stores and snowboard schools. They keep up with the latest developments in internal workshops and at workshops organised by suppliers.</p></sec><sec><title>Consumer satisfaction and economic success</title><p>The idea of 100 per cent orientation towards snowboard customers was always Blue Tomato's first priority, and this idea has been implemented rigorously in all sectors of the company over the past few years. Be this as part of “cool” communication, or perhaps in providing advice to customers. These efforts are also reflected in the high degree of customer satisfaction and loyalty by Blue Tomato customers, which has been confirmed in customer satisfaction analyses. In addition, Blue Tomato tries at all times to analyse and gain a better understanding of the needs and views of its customers. For example, Blue Tomato recently commissioned the first investigation of the image of snowboard brands in which, among other things, the potentials for cross‐selling could be identified.</p><p>If we look at the economic success of Blue Tomato, we can see that, in recent years, the company has succeeded in increasing its sales continuously, normally by 3‐figure percentages ever year. In addition, it is encouraging to see that Blue Tomato has also succeeded again and again in achieving profitability rates above the average level in this branch. In the meantime, some 80 per cent of the entire contribution margin is earned outside the home market, where the most attractive markets in this respect and in terms of sales are Germany, the UK, Switzerland, and Finland.</p><p>The developments of the past few years, distinguished according to product range, show that there is an upward trend in all sectors, but the growth rates in hard goods (like snowboards, bindings, boots, etc.) is slowing, while growth rates in soft goods (like jackets, caps, trousers, gloves, etc.) are still rising. This knowledge and various strategic considerations point to the increasing importance of the soft goods sector in the future, the response to which should be a wider sales mix or also own Blue Tomato brands.</p></sec></sec><sec><title>Discussion and implications</title><p>As the analysis shows, there are small, niche‐oriented companies – often on the sidelines of the large retailers in the main focus – that can be successful internationally and achieve growth. The special feature in the present case lies in the fact that the company was able to internationalise via electronic commerce, which was possible without capital investments and in‐depth foreign activities, unlike other forms of internationalisation.</p><p>At a more basic level we can say that small, niche‐oriented firms should not limit themselves to incremental development on the international market. On the contrary, revolutionary internationalisation was completed in the case reviewed only a few years after the company had been established, just like the born‐global companies. The enterprising spirit and ideas of the company's founders were the beginning of this development. At the three levels of change, however, they are differences relating to speed and intensity of the dynamic forces. The most internationally related changes are observed in the market‐oriented processes, followed by managerial changes and the supply‐oriented processes, which are changing but not always in relation to international activities.</p><p>Despite all the dynamic forces, an incremental selection of countries can be identified. In these countries, international expansion took place in concentric circles around the home market. Thus, internationalisation is achieved with an interplay of revolutionary and evolutionary steps. In market servicing there are more incremental steps, e.g. sponsoring of events. From the subjective side of the company, there are also some dynamic steps, e.g. a new generation of web shops.</p><p>Nevertheless, on the market side it is true to say that internationalisation via electronic commerce is the only way that small retailers can internationalise within a short period. Electronic commerce in particular bears fewer resources and less risk than would otherwise be involved in some markets, as well providing an opportunity for trial and error delivery to individual markets. In the present case, some isolated setbacks were also suffered in the course of the internationalisation strategy.</p><p>At the same time, the case study shows that visions can be implemented effectively in born‐international companies, and that it is possible to establish a professional, international retailer practically from scratch within just a few years. Increasing professionalisation is visible in the managerial structures and culture, although this is not necessarily related to internationalisation. On the other hand, we should point out that the company's structures, particularly regarding management issues, is still very different to large international retailing companies.</p><p>There is some evidence to support the idea that the supply side and also the management and integration processes are dominated by the market, and coordination is the most significant dimension in multi‐national companies. The present case shows that no clear relationship can be identified between the supply‐processes and sales and internationalisation. The important factors seem to be rather the home market and the overall situation of the company.</p><p>All in all, the company has still remained very Austrian. In this respect it is still on the road to internationalisation, with some interesting perspectives in terms of further internationalisation measures, for example, establishing the first subsidiaries, dispatch centres abroad, etc. in order to be closer to the customer geographically. Perhaps this includes some revolutionary steps, as described in the literature on dynamic internationalisation. So far, Blue Tomato has succeeded in reaching cross‐national market segments, with a specific scene orientation and who also share snowboarders' attitude to life, by means of inter‐active scene relationship management (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b14">Luo and Seyedian, 2003</xref>). Blue Tomato's main concern was and still is to orient its products and services to the needs of international customers and prospective buyers in as individualised a form as possible. In this connection, inter‐activity plays an important role in four sectors, i.e. in the relationship between:<list list-type="order"><list-item><label>1. </label><p>customers and employees (e.g. advice provided personally, e‐mail);</p></list-item><list-item><label>2. </label><p>customers and the scene (e.g. degree of conformity between scene and individual lifestyle);</p></list-item><list-item><label>3. </label><p>employees and the scene (e.g. employees are also members of the scene); and</p></list-item><list-item><label>4. </label><p>company and the scene (e.g. sponsoring).</p></list-item></list>Thanks to this understanding of relationships, an aspect not focused on in this paper, it has been possible to build an international snowboard community.</p><p>All in all, it seems that the idea of born‐globals could be a good basis for understanding the specific development of e‐commerce. The development of the companies, however, is not revolutionary, but incremental in most cases (apart from the market entry). On the other hand, incremental learning models are not able to explain the development of international companies. These models are relevant for the first steps towards internationalisation by less dynamic industries (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b9">Johanson and Vahlne, 1990</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b25">Swoboda, 2002</xref>). After those first steps, combined models, but also revolutionary models are more suitable. This was also the context in which the approach selected and based on the value chain perspective was basically also established. It looks to be a promising starting point in explaining internationalisation, provided it is combined with incremental and revolutionary elements. This combination could also be useful in companies with a wider level of internationalisation, and even in multinational firms, so perhaps also for Blue Tomato in the future.</p></sec><sec><fig position="float" id="F_0890340704001"><label><bold>Figure 1<x> </x></bold></label><caption><p>Sales development for hard goods and soft goods</p></caption><graphic xlink:href="0890340704001.tif"></graphic></fig></sec><sec><fig position="float" id="F_0890340704002"><label><bold>Plate 1<x> </x></bold></label><caption><p>Blue Tomato motif</p></caption><graphic xlink:href="0890340704002.tif"></graphic></fig></sec><sec><fig position="float" id="F_0890340704003"><label><bold>Table I<x> </x></bold></label><caption><p>Distribution of electronic commerce sales over country markets</p></caption><graphic xlink:href="0890340704003.tif"></graphic></fig></sec></body><back><fn-group><title>Notes</title><fn id="fn1"><p>We are aware of the fact that such approaches as the eclectic or OLI paradigm (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b5">Dunning, 1994</xref>), the transnational solution (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b1">Bartlett and Ghoshal, 1991</xref>), the network approach, etc. are noteworthy. As existing frameworks for retail internationalisation, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b32">Davies and Fergusson (1995)</xref> mention push/pull factors, stage theories, the eclectic paradigm, the value chain, and networking. See, for example, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b13">Li <italic>et al.</italic> (2004)</xref> to obtain an overview, as well as <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b27">Swoboda <italic>et al.</italic> (2005)</xref> on retailing.</p></fn><fn id="fn2"><p>Both views are combined by <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b12">Kutschker <italic>et al.</italic> (1997)</xref> or <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="b25">Swoboda (2002)</xref>, who assume that internationalisation is a holistic perspective.</p></fn><fn id="fn3"><p>It is necessary to obtain a comprehensive view – which cannot be presented here – of the internationalisation of value added activities, country decisions or transaction forms, which together characterise the internationalisation level. 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globals: an evolutionary process?</italic></article-title>”, <source><italic>International Business Review</italic></source>, Vol. <volume>6</volume> No. <issue>6</issue>, pp. <fpage>561</fpage><x>‐</x><lpage>83</lpage>.</mixed-citation></ref></ref-list><app-group><app id="APP1"><title>Corresponding author</title><p>Thomas Foscht can be contacted at: thomas.foscht@uni‐graz.at</p></app></app-group></back></article></istex:document></istex:metadataXml><mods version="3.6"><titleInfo lang="en"><title>Electronic commercebased internationalisation of small, nicheoriented retailing companies</title><subTitle>The case of Blue Tomato and the Snowboard industry</subTitle></titleInfo><titleInfo type="alternative" lang="en" contentType="CDATA"><title>Electronic commercebased internationalisation of small, nicheoriented retailing companies</title><subTitle>The case of Blue Tomato and the Snowboard industry</subTitle></titleInfo><name type="personal"><namePart type="given">Thomas</namePart><namePart type="family">Foscht</namePart><affiliation>Department of Marketing and Retailing, University of Graz, Graz, Austria</affiliation><role><roleTerm type="text">author</roleTerm></role></name><name type="personal"><namePart type="given">Bernhard</namePart><namePart type="family">Swoboda</namePart><affiliation>Department of Marketing and Retailing, University of Trier, Trier, Germany</affiliation><role><roleTerm type="text">author</roleTerm></role></name><name type="personal"><namePart type="given">Dirk</namePart><namePart type="family">Morschett</namePart><affiliation>Department of Retailing and International Management, Saarland University, Saarbruecken, Germany</affiliation><role><roleTerm type="text">author</roleTerm></role></name><typeOfResource>text</typeOfResource><genre type="case-report" displayLabel="case-report"></genre><originInfo><publisher>Emerald Group Publishing Limited</publisher><dateIssued encoding="w3cdtf">2006-07-01</dateIssued><copyrightDate encoding="w3cdtf">2006</copyrightDate></originInfo><language><languageTerm type="code" authority="iso639-2b">eng</languageTerm><languageTerm type="code" authority="rfc3066">en</languageTerm></language><physicalDescription><internetMediaType>text/html</internetMediaType></physicalDescription><abstract>Purpose The main object of this research paper is to analyse the dynamic internationalisation process in small retailing firms, achieved on the basis of electronic commerce a combination that has seldom been investigated. An analysis of dynamic internationalisation in companies presumes that the businesses concerned are observed over a longer period of time, which is why the paper focuses on the case of one specific company. Designmethodologyapproach The basis of the analysis is a theorybased framework which refers to two opposing approaches in international management, namely the incremental, experiential learning perspective, and the revolutionary perspective. The framework and the case study look specifically at marketoriented, supply sideoriented, and management processes. Based on an extended case study on a small, bornglobal firm, the many facets of increasing professionalisation have been documented. Findings The paper shows that small, nicheoriented companies can be successful internationally and achieve growth. The process of dynamic internationalisation is both incremental and revolutionary. The special feature in the present case lies in the fact that the small company was able to internationalise via electronic commerce, which was possible without capital investments and indepth foreign activities, unlike other forms of internationalisation, which is already evident from other small retailers on the web. Blue Tomato succeeded in reaching crossnational market segments, with a specific scene orientation and which also share snowboarders' attitude to life, by means of interactive scene relationship management. This focused scene orientation is one of the key differences compared with other catalogue retailers, especially larger ones. Originalityvalue The originality of the paper lies in the fact that the subject of internationalisation is investigated particularly from the point of view of small retail companies. This contrasts with many other papers focusing on large retailing companies. In addition, the paper looks at the dynamic perspective of internationalisation and change processes. The present paper could be a small step towards gaining an understanding of international change based on electronic commerce.</abstract><subject><genre>keywords</genre><topic>Electronic commerce</topic><topic>Strategic marketing</topic><topic>Retailing</topic><topic>Small to mediumsized enterprises</topic></subject><relatedItem type="host"><titleInfo><title>International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management</title></titleInfo><genre type="journal">journal</genre><subject><genre>Emerald Subject Group</genre><topic authority="SubjectCodesPrimary" authorityURI="cat-MSOP">Management science & operations</topic><topic authority="SubjectCodesSecondary" authorityURI="cat-LOG">Logistics</topic><topic authority="SubjectCodesSecondary" authorityURI="cat-DMS">Distribution management & systems</topic></subject><subject><genre>Emerald Subject Group</genre><topic authority="SubjectCodesPrimary" authorityURI="cat-MARK">Marketing</topic><topic authority="SubjectCodesSecondary" authorityURI="cat-DCM">Distribution channels & markets</topic><topic authority="SubjectCodesSecondary" authorityURI="cat-MSM">Marketing strategy/methods</topic><topic authority="SubjectCodesSecondary" authorityURI="cat-RET">Retailing</topic></subject><identifier type="ISSN">0959-0552</identifier><identifier type="PublisherID">ijrdm</identifier><identifier type="DOI">10.1108/ijrdm</identifier><part><date>2006</date><detail type="title"><title>Retail insights ecommerce</title></detail><detail type="volume"><caption>vol.</caption><number>34</number></detail><detail type="issue"><caption>no.</caption><number>7</number></detail><extent unit="pages"><start>556</start><end>572</end></extent></part></relatedItem><identifier type="istex">A4AE38E13506D6C4968C5F00FA0B930BCA7DB7E1</identifier><identifier type="DOI">10.1108/09590550610673626</identifier><identifier type="filenameID">0890340704</identifier><identifier type="original-pdf">0890340704.pdf</identifier><identifier type="href">09590550610673626.pdf</identifier><accessCondition type="use and reproduction" contentType="copyright">© Emerald Group Publishing Limited</accessCondition><recordInfo><recordContentSource>EMERALD</recordContentSource></recordInfo></mods></metadata><serie></serie></istex></record>Pour manipuler ce document sous Unix (Dilib)
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