The Impact of Digital Technologies on Companies’ International Business Activities
Digital technologies have been increasingly argued to increase the efficiency of business operations. This represents an even more relevant subject for international companies due to global competition and the added complexity of their foreign activities, since being active in many countries requires a higher level of coordination as well as competitiveness, whereby advanced technologies are believed to be beneficial. However, the extant research in this field does not shed sufficient light on the way international companies can benefit from deploying digital technologies regarding their international business activities. Hence, this project aims to explore if and to which extent digital technologies influence the afore-mentioned foreign operations and help international companies increase their performance in foreign markets. To address this issue, interviews have been conducted with top managers of German companies having foreign activities. During the interviews, interviewees were asked questions identified based on the literature and theoretical reasoning. These questions form four groups of research topics: Location of activities, internationalization-specific decision-making, foreign subsidiaries and their roles, and governance/management/coordination. The preliminary results illustrate the importance of talent acquisition, automation of routine international operations, and regulatory requirements in different markets. Regarding the latter, China has established itself as one of the most important markets for most of the interviewed companies with its own specific requirements for developing and employing digital technologies. Furthermore, interviewees emphasized the role of digital platforms in the digital era.
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