Internationalisation at Home: Exploiting the Potential of the Non-nationals' and Expatriates' Community

Abstract

Objective: The paper explores the first-time internationalisation strategy and discusses whether firms could actually begin internationalisation at home without crossing the border by approaching the international expatriates' community in the home city/market.

Research Design & Methods: The concept of internationalisation at home is studied through the case study method. An example of a public company from the creative industry in the capital city from the Central and Eastern European region is studied.

Findings: The expatriates' community, so far often neglected market segment, has a rising potential in several European cites. The results highlight a positive impact on performance after approaching the expatriates' community. Organisational learning effects result in improved and stabilised sales and strengthened firm-specific advantages.

Implications & Recommendations: Internationalisation at home is disruptive innovation, especially appropriate for enterprises under high resource constraints. It is fast, cost efficient and has positive externalities. The international expatriates' community in the home city/market offers fast organisational learning and a testing area for enterprises.

Contribution & Value Added: Internationalisation at home adds to the existing understanding of internationalisation. The findings that firms could begin the organisational learning process of internationalisation before or even without the first foreign entry and proposals for the integrating expatriates' community into the marketing strategy may influence future internationalisation paths.

Keywords

internationalisation at home, international strategy, expatriates' community, market segmentation, cross-national consumer

Author Biography

Andreja Jaklič

Andreja Jaklič, professor of International economics and research fellow at Centre of International Relations, University of Ljubljana earned her experience from several academic and applied international research projects related to internationalisation, export, FDI, MNEs and their effects on competitiveness, growth, productivity and innovation activity. Her teaching courses involve: international Business, International Economic relations, EU in a global economy and Research methods.

Paraskev Karageorgu

Paraskevi Karageorgu, has a Bachelor's degree in European studies and is a master student of Cultural studies at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. Her research area involves: European cultural policy, International marketing and Creative industries. She has earned her experience by several different traineeships (including EXPO Milano and Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria in Slovenia) and volunteered twice in the Guest Management department at Liffe film festival.

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