A literature review on firms’ internationalisation through e-commerce

The rise of e-commerce has brought considerable changes to the relationship between firms and consumers, especially within international business. Hence, understanding the use of such means for entering foreign markets has become critical for companies. However, the research on this issue is new and so it is important to evaluate what has been studied in the past. In this study, we conduct a systematic review of e-commerce and internationalisation studies to explicate how firms use e-commerce to enter new markets and to export. The studies are classified by theories and methods used in the literature. Moreover, we draw upon the internationalisation decision process (antecedent-strategies-consequences) to propose an integrative framework for understanding the role of e-commerce in internationalisation. We believe that the literature review will be a picture of the “status quo” and provide a useful basis for scholars and managerial decisions.