Challenges of the Challengers: An Insight into the Internationalization Pathway of Croatian Digital Agencies

Abstract

Development of internet-based technologies provided companies with an ideal infrastructure for rapid internationalization. The internet era facilitated the emergence of a new type of companies that rapidly develop global presence through the utilisation of various internet-based technologies. According to the traditional internationalization theories, the process of internationalization requires vast amounts of funds, significant time, competent international workforce and network support by suppliers. The so cold born global companies rely far less on these elements (prerequisites). For them, the development of internet infrastructure and the overall market penetration of internet are much more essential. Their process of internationalization (or globalization) is usually rapid, without any preceding longterm domestic or internationalization phase. This paper analyses theoretical framework behind the born global companies' internationalization process in order to shed some light on the recent developments among Croatian digital agencies and their internationalization pathways. Although born global companies are challenging traditional theories, there exists a scope for potential complementarity between these essentially opposite pathways of internationalization.

“Born global” poduzeća u doba digitalizacije

“…How an agency expands into foreign markets is intricately linked to decisions regarding its business model, confirmed by several studies (Bouncken et Language barriers, especially in non-English-speaking countries, increase the difficulties of market entry. The uncertainties associated with entering new markets further aggravate these challenges, which have also been underscored in previous studies (Draskovic et al, 2017;Draskovic & Markovic, 2020).…”

“…Following international trends (Lynch, 2019), the Croatian advertising industry developed and focused on digital media. In addition to traditional agencies turning to digital marketing, the digitalization of the landscape also led to the emergence of fully digital marketing agencies (Draskovic et al, 2017).…”

“…In particular, this study attempts to shed light on the motivations and obstacles to rapid internationalization strategies of digital marketing agencies in Croatia. While the advertising industry in Croatia has a long tradition (Patterson, 2003;Draskovic et al, 2006), the limited size of the market has led agencies to internationalize their operations, resulting in a relatively high degree of internationalization (Draskovic et al, 2017;Draskovic & Markovic, 2020). In addition, this study also aims to examine general internationalization patterns specific to Croatian digital marketing agencies.…”

Electronic Document as a Tool of Digital Economy

“…According to some experts: "The growing role of the Internet of Things (IoT) concept is proved by its application in the number of areas such as the development of smart cities, the management of energy resources and networks, mobility, transport, logistics, etc." [3,4]. The peculiarity of Digital Technology is the possibility of unlimited increase in productivity through scaling.…”