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The Role of Knowledge Acquisition in Internationalization: A dual case study of Swedish digital SMEs

Öpik, Hendrika LU and Abrahamsson, Linnea LU (2021) IBUH19 20211
Department of Business Administration
Abstract
This paper investigates the role of knowledge acquisition in the internationalization of digital small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). An organizational learning perspective is adopted by examining how each of Huber’s (1991) five knowledge acquisition types are used in firm internationalization. An extensive overview of literature on the topic is provided, and additional insight is provided through case studies of two Swedish digital SMEs. Findings indicate that while the case firms did not internationalize immediately upon founding, reliance on a wide range of knowledge sources has enabled them to expand in a non-incremental manner, deviating from the incremental internationalization path. During their early internationalization,... (More)
This paper investigates the role of knowledge acquisition in the internationalization of digital small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). An organizational learning perspective is adopted by examining how each of Huber’s (1991) five knowledge acquisition types are used in firm internationalization. An extensive overview of literature on the topic is provided, and additional insight is provided through case studies of two Swedish digital SMEs. Findings indicate that while the case firms did not internationalize immediately upon founding, reliance on a wide range of knowledge sources has enabled them to expand in a non-incremental manner, deviating from the incremental internationalization path. During their early internationalization, both case firms used mainly vicarious learning to compensate for lack of experiential knowledge. This knowledge acquisition type also remained impactful in the firms’ later internationalization. For one firm, experimentation and grafting were also important, whereas congenital learning was more impactful for the second firm. Searching and noticing took a supplementary role. Additionally, findings suggest a potential positive impact of experiential learning on other knowledge acquisition types. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Öpik, Hendrika LU and Abrahamsson, Linnea LU
supervisor
organization
course
IBUH19 20211
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
knowledge, knowledge acquisition, congenital learning, experiential learning, vicarious learning, grafting, searching and noticing, internationalization, digital firm, SME
language
English
id
9047572
date added to LUP
2021-06-24 15:03:17
date last changed
2021-06-24 15:03:17
@misc{9047572,
  abstract     = {{This paper investigates the role of knowledge acquisition in the internationalization of digital small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). An organizational learning perspective is adopted by examining how each of Huber’s (1991) five knowledge acquisition types are used in firm internationalization. An extensive overview of literature on the topic is provided, and additional insight is provided through case studies of two Swedish digital SMEs. Findings indicate that while the case firms did not internationalize immediately upon founding, reliance on a wide range of knowledge sources has enabled them to expand in a non-incremental manner, deviating from the incremental internationalization path. During their early internationalization, both case firms used mainly vicarious learning to compensate for lack of experiential knowledge. This knowledge acquisition type also remained impactful in the firms’ later internationalization. For one firm, experimentation and grafting were also important, whereas congenital learning was more impactful for the second firm. Searching and noticing took a supplementary role. Additionally, findings suggest a potential positive impact of experiential learning on other knowledge acquisition types.}},
  author       = {{Öpik, Hendrika and Abrahamsson, Linnea}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{The Role of Knowledge Acquisition in Internationalization: A dual case study of Swedish digital SMEs}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}