Social Media and Small Entrepreneurial Firms’ Internationalization

Abstract

Small entrepreneurial firms often need to be quite creative when allocating and deploying their limited resources. Especially in grasping international opportunities, social media provides a seemingly affordable and far-reaching media to utilize. However, challenges-such as the controllability of the content and the outcomes of using social media-become apparent as the reach of social media marketing expands beyond certain threshold limits. In this study, we rely on our data on a multiple-case study to evaluate to what extent, and under which conditions 2 social media can support small entrepreneurial firms' international expansion. Thereby, we contribute to research on SME internationalization and business implications of digitalization. Our findings indicate that small entrepreneurial firms face somewhat different social media related challenges in the international business environment compared to domestic settings. The controllability of the contents comes with new tones. Furthermore, small firms' resources, both in terms of social media use, and in different functions, play an important role in determining the extent to which the use of social media supports these firms' internationalization.