Globalization of Markets:
- Some Trends and Implications for Norwegian
Industry
Arild Aspelund, PhD
Outline
• Why do companies go international?
– a natural point of departure for our journey
• Important trends in the global economy
• Implications for the population of international firms and
organizations
– International New Ventures
• General challenges for industry
– Special challenges for INVs
• Implications for how we conceptualize international
business
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Why do firms go international?
• Expand sales
– Company sales depend on the customers’ interest in their products
and services and the customers’ willingness and ability to pay for
them, hence the world offers greater potential volumes than any
given nation
– Could be a necessity to gain critical market mass
– Requires that products and services are movable across
international borders for reasonable costs
– However, this does not mean that international companies are
necessarily large
• 70 % of US exporters are SMEs
• 99 % of the Norwegian…
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Why do firms go international?
• Acquire resources
– Manufacturers seek out products, services and components produced
in foreign countries
– Also look for capital, technologies, information and opportunities for
arbitrage
– The major motivation for doing this is to cut costs
• But there might also be other benefits, especially in terms of
market expansion
– One of the major trends within international business today is
offshoring of manufacturing capabilities
• A well-known strategy among MNEs, now also popular among
SMEs
• In 2005 alone, 25 % of Norwegian manufacturers replaced some
domestic suppliers with foreign (NHO, 2005)
• In the mechanic industry, the numbers is as high as 45 %
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Why do firms go international?
•
Minimize risk
– To minimize variations in sales and profits firms often use international
markets to take advantage of business cycle differences among countries
– By obtaining the same products and components from different countries
firms might release themselves from business risks associated business
cycles
– Internationalization might also be a defensive strategy to fight competitors
abroad rather than in your home market
– Form a business cycle perspective it also makes sense to internationalize
when your domestic market no longer offers any reasonable venues for
further growth
– Specific examples of the latter from Norwegian industry are…
• Statoil (now StatoilHydro)
• Telenor
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Drivers and recent economic trends
•
Increased Demand for Specialized Goods
– Increased Welfare
– Shifts Competitive Advantages from Large to Smaller Manufacturing Units
– Growing Numbers and Size of International Niche Markets
•
Globalization of markets
– Free trade areas and international trade agreements
– Lower export barriers
•
Globalization of Technology
– Joint Research and Development Platforms and International Technology
Transfers
– New and Innovative Approaches Available for Small Firms
– Process Technology Allowing Economy of Sophisticated Goods in Small
Batches
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Drivers and recent economic trends
• Increased Supply of Necessary Resources for
Internationalization
– Managerial Talent
– Risk Capital
– International Business Partners
• Information Technology
– Higher Availability and Lower Costs of Information
– Coordination of Small Geographically Disperse Organizations
• International Transportation Systems
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What are the results…?
• First of all, increased opportunities for international business, as
all traditional cost barriers are significantly lowered or even
removed entirely, lead more firms to go international
• An era of globalization
– Meaning international trade increase more than trade in general
• Great opportunities for explorative market activities as well as
more efficient international value chain management
• Incumbents face increased international competition on
domestic markets
– Very hard to protect markets with traditionally only domestic actors
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What are the results…?
• “The Reemergence of the small firm”
• The emergence of “International New Ventures” – a
new generation of Norwegian exporters
–
–
–
–
–
Smaller and younger
International orientation
Internationalize far more rapidly
Global reach
Competes on Technology rather than Market resources
• A total shift in the profile of Norwegian international
firms
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- Typology of Small Norwegian International
Firms (2005)
Share of
Foreign Sales
100%
Born Global
40%*
Late Global
2%*
Early International
45%*
Late International
12%*
Time to Internationalization
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International New Ventures – The New
Industry?
• International New Ventures – the intersection between three
areas of priority in economic development
– Entrepreneurship – the establishment of new firms
– Innovation – the introduction of new ways
– Internationalization – the proliferation of innovations in new markets
• A relatively new organization form that has become
commonplace in most open economies, especially economies
that are relatively small in size
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Special Challenges for INVs
•
New challenges for new and small companies
– double hurdles of firm formation
•
International marketing under strict resource limitations
•
Demands new types of competence; resource management in
international partnerships and negotiation skills
•
Establish international market channels that are…
–
–
–
–
•
Effective and efficient
Reliable
Sustainable
Affordable
New theoretical perspectives of firm internationalization?
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Summary
• We have found three general motivations for firms to go
international
– Expand sales
– Acquire resources
– Minimize risk
• We have also discussed some important trends related to
international demand, trade policy, technology and
infrastructure that has lead us into an era of globalization
• We have discussed some of the implications of these trends for
firms in general and we have highlighted a special
phenomenon related to INVs that have received special
attention
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