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@PHDTHESIS{Schleiden:856570,
author = {Schleiden, Vera},
othercontributors = {Neiberger, Cordula and Fromhold-Eisebith, Martina},
title = {{I}nternationalisierungsverhalten deutscher
{O}nlinehändler : neue {I}nternationalisierungsstrategien
und {E}nträumlichung durch {D}igitalisierung},
school = {Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen},
type = {Dissertation},
address = {Aachen},
publisher = {RWTH Aachen University},
reportid = {RWTH-2022-10931},
pages = {1 Online-Ressource : Illustrationen, Diagramme},
year = {2022},
note = {Veröffentlicht auf dem Publikationsserver der RWTH Aachen
University 2023; Dissertation, Rheinisch-Westfälische
Technische Hochschule Aachen, 2022},
abstract = {Online retail is in a very excited phase markes by change.
Influenced by new technologies (information, communication,
transport) and strong internationalisation tendencies in
trade, the theoretical, technical possibilities and
framework conditions have changed significantly in recent
years and opened up new opportunities for online retailers.
This led to the discussion in trade geography research
whether digital despatialization occurs: In the
internationalization of classical traders it could ne shown
that they first expand into geographically and
psychologically close countries before entering more distant
markets or that initially no or sporadic market entry
strategies are chosen and only in the further
internationalization process more intensive forms are chosen
to work a country. Today, the internet can theoretically
overcome all national borders, as Cairncross formulated in
his hypothesis of the “death of distance” in 1997, or
Friedman (2005) assumed the end of geography or distances.
This all suggests that distances no longer play a role in
the context of online internationalisation ant that here is
accordingly a worldwide, borderless expansion or digital
de-spatialization. Initial academic studies on online
internationalisation, on the other hand, have come to the
conclusion that distances and proximity continue to be
important in online retailing and that no tendencies towards
despatialization can be discerned. The aim of this paper is
to investigate whether digital despatialization occurs in
the context of online internationalization. For this
purpose, the internationalization strategies of German
online retailers will be analysed and recorded. In doing so,
it will be further investigated whether new, target market,
market entry and timing strategies are emerging in online
retailing. In a further step, justifications for the
strategic choices of online retailers will be sought. The
assumptions of Johanson and Vahlne’s (1977, 2009) learning
theory of internationalization are used as the basis of
argumentation on which the research is based. It will be
examined whether the phenomena of the psychic distance chain
and the establishment chain can also be adapted to
international online retailing. A mixed-method approach was
chosen for the study, i. e. on the one hand a quantitative
study in the form of a scientific observation of websites of
200 German online retailers was conducted and in the other
hand a qualitative study in the form of explorative
interviews with online retailers, foreign trade experts and
IT experts was carried out. Overall, the majority of the
online retailers surveyed are pursuing an online
internationalisation strategy (approx. 85 $\%).$ With regard
to the (new) internationalisation strategies of German
online retailers, the following results can be summarised:
Online retailers usually choose a diversified target market
strategy and therefore expand into several countries. From a
geographical point of view, expansion is concentrated on
Germany’s immediate neighbours or on EU member states.
With regard to market entry strategies, there are new or
changed strategies. The focus is clearly on the export
strategy, either passively via the German online shop or
actively via country-specific online shops. In terms of
timing strategies, the majority of online retailers have a
combined strategy of gradual, single and simultaneous,
parallel market entries. Based on the analysis of the
internationalisation strategies of online retailers, it
could be shown that, on the one hand, new
internationalisation strategies play a role in online
retailing, but that, on the other hand, similar patterns
with regard to spatial expansion can be found as in
traditional retailing – the focus continues to be on
proximity to the home market. The search for justification
for the internationalisation strategies shown and a lack of
digital de-spatialisation in international online retailing
was the focus of further investigation. The results of the
research were able to show that online retailers have so far
largely concentrated on expanding into countries with (very)
low to moderate psychic distance. Thud, there is no
worldwide expansion according to the theoretical technical
requirements oft the Internet, but the focus is possibly
according to the still early internationalisation phase of
German online retailers on markets with a low or moderate
psychic distance, which corresponds to the assumptions of
the learning theory of internationalisation on the psychic
distance chain. Accordingly, the target market selection
behaviour of German online retailers can be explained and
justified on the basis of the construct of psychic distance.
On the other hand, the theoretical assumptions of the
establishment chain cannot be applied to the company
examples studied and accordingly cannot be used as a
rationale for strategic market entry behaviour. In a further
research step, it was also statistically examined which
subindices of the previously identified psychological
distance construct have an influence on internationalisation
behaviour in online retailing. It was shown that the
geographical, cultural and institutional proximity of a
market to the home market has a positive influence in how
often a country is chosen as a target market.},
cin = {551720 / 530000},
ddc = {550},
cid = {$I:(DE-82)551720_20140620$ / $I:(DE-82)530000_20140620$},
typ = {PUB:(DE-HGF)11},
doi = {10.18154/RWTH-2022-10931},
url = {https://publications.rwth-aachen.de/record/856570},
}
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