International Networks
Internationalizing the Small and Medium Sized Firm – four cases
Being young and small normally means that you lack the international networks that are crucial for succeeding with the internationalization process. These networks probably play an even greater role when internationalizing then it does on the home market, since the company is on unknown territory. There are different ways of compensating for this. One is to try to find Joint Ventures on the new market and thereby indirectly be part of a network (Johanson & Mattson 1988). Another is to leverage the owners existing international network. This is what Edgecom did by using the network of Ericsson. For Edgecom this meant that they already indirectly had a presence in the new market. It also reduced the time to get up and running since they could benefit from Ericsson infrastructure in the new market. Most importantly it made sure that Edgecom had customers in the new market. This is by the authors considered as the main reasons why Edgecom managed to expand as fast and aggressive as they did.
