Study 1: E-Commerce Firms’ Geographic Scope. Roles of Intangible Resources and Country-Specific Moderators
摘要
International ECFs, which provide physical goods to consumers through own online shops and marketplaces, rapidly expand their geographic scope, i.e., number of foreign markets (with country-specific online shops in terms of domain, language, and currency), and globally account for 20% of total retail sales (Swoboda and Sinning 2022; Young 2021). They profit from internet-based technologies and acquire resources over time that ease their expansion (e.g., Elia et al. 2021). However, firms develop distinct geographic scopes: Zalando or Esdemarca, both founded in 2008, established 17 or four country-specific online shops respectively (Esdemarca 2021; Zalando 2021b). Esdemarca has weaker international experience, has acquired less website traffic, and has a smaller social media network.