ABSTRACT
This study explores why some transactional platforms that have expanded into foreign markets decide to de-internationalize. The empirical part of this study focuses on an anonymized transactional platform called Alpha and its de-internationalization from the host market. Our exploratory case study shows that Alpha’s de-internationalization was driven by a combination of external and internal factors. These factors were related and contributed in different ways to create a downward spiral of de-internationalization. In conclusion, we propose that such a negative spiral in foreign markets is related to a firm’s inability to recontextualize, something that even globally standardized transactional platforms must be capable of doing. The importance of recontextualization highlights the fact that a platform business consists of elements that are embedded in a particular local context.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Arto Lindblom
Arto Lindblom is a Professor of Retailing in the Department of Marketing at the Aalto University School of Business in Finland. His current research interests are related to retail entrepreneurship, retail business models, retail marketing and supplier-retailer relationships. His research has been published in journals such as Journal of Business Research, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, the International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, and Industrial Marketing Management.
Naoto Nadayama
Naoto Nadayama is an Associate Professor of International Business at the Faculty of Economics at Kanagawa University (Japan). He earned his Ph. D in Management from University of Otago (New Zealand), and his MSc in Business Administration and Economics from Aalto University (Finland). His current research interests are related to MNEs’ subsidiary management, firms’ internationalization, and technology commercialization. His research has been published in journals such as Journal of International Management.
Kazuhiro Asakawa
Kazuhiro Asakawa is Professor of Global Innovation Management in the Department of Management at Graduate School of Business Administration, Keio University, Japan. His research interest lies in the global innovation and global R&D management of multinational corporations. His research appeared in many major refereed journals including Journal of International Business Studies, Global Strategy Journal, Research Policy, Journal of World Business, and Journal of Product Innovation Management.
Richard Cuthbertson
Richard Cuthbertson is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford; Research Director of the Oxford Institute of Retail Management at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford; Governing Body Fellow of Green Templeton College, Oxford; and a Visiting Senior Fellow at Aalto University. Richard’s research interests focus on innovation within consumer service firms, where the diversity of customer experiences, formats, and channels combine to create a challenging environment for those firms, their supply chains, and public policy.