The Role of Websites in Business Internationalization: A Closer Look at Objectives and Strategies

Introduction

The global pandemic disrupted many businesses and our daily life worldwide. According to Altman & Bastian (2020), people flow suffered an unprecedented decline. In addition, trade and capital flows were also hit hard. Consequently, digital information flow and international data flow soared. Thus, digital channels have become the main lifeline to connect businesses and the world. In this context, the majority of countries are striving towards internationalization of home companies and businesses.

The key factor for internationalization lies in the power of digital channels. In fact, prior to lockdowns, 90% of business decision makers already believed that digital commerce was or would become their company’s most important sales channel within one to three years, and 87% agreed that digital was the future of their company (Forrester Consulting, 2020). Thus, given this promising opportunity for internationalization and the dramatic change in the digital world, it becomes necessary for practitioners and researchers to study the effectiveness of digital touchpoints, such as websites, in international markets.

The importance of websites as an international touchpoint is undeniable. Being widely associated with market globalization, a website is recognized as the most valuable digital asset of any company (Chaffey & Smith, 2017), since it offers the opportunity to create an information hub and an outlet store available to any prospective client with internet access. Without surprise, the role of websites in business internationalization attracts a lot of attention from practitioners, and research on the topic has become increasingly popular.

Despite the interesting insights in extant literature regarding companies’ adoption of websites (e.g., Oliveira & Martins, 2011; Ramayah et al., 2016; Simmons, Armstrong & Durkin, 2008, 2011), managers’ predisposition for e-commerce (e.g., Al-Bakri & Katsioloudes, 2015; Houghton & Winklhofer, 2004; Ocloo et al., 2020; Nasution et al., 2021; Sin & Sin, 2020; Sumiyana & Susilo, 2021; Walker et al., 2016; Xuhua et al., 2019) and the expected impacts of websites on internationalization, especially exports (e.g., Hagsten & Kotnic, 2017; Jean & Kim, 2020; Rivera-Trigueros & Olvera-Lobo, 2021), research on the topic is still sparce in exploring the role of industry specific websites and its customer-centric strategy, and the effects in the company’s internationalization efforts. This chapter aims to fill this gap.

To better understand the role of websites in business internationalization, the chapter has two objectives:

• 1.

  Explore how website overall objectives (e.g., sell, inform, build relationships, foster brand image) contribute to website internationalization effectiveness (e.g., reaching international prospects, exporting).

• 2.

  Understand how website strategy (e.g., target audience, content and optimization) contribute to website internationalization effectiveness (e.g., reaching international prospects, exporting).

Building on recent scientific outputs, this research provides empirical evidence on Portuguese companies’ experiences shared by 20 managers of large companies and SMEs of various activity sectors. Overall, the chapter offers both theoretical and empirical contributions to managers and practitioners in general, by highlighting important determinants of website effectiveness for business internationalization.