Internationalization and export of software products

Abstract

Independent software vendors need to grow beyond their domestic markets. Software producing organizations are faced with a great number of options and opportunities on how they choose to conduct internationalization. Interestingly, efforts conducted have a high failure rate and software companies rarely succeed at first. In this paper we present a systematic mapping study and the results of 20 interviews with CEOs in the Dutch software sector. This study highlights the most important decisions made during the process of internationalization: the drivers, the process planning, market selection, and the followed market entry strategy. The choices available to the key decision makers in the right market selection and entry strategy are most strongly influenced and limited by the product architecture, characteristics of the product and company, and the level of internationalization experience located within the independent software company. The findings from this research support decision making in internationalization projects by software firms and policy makers in finding support strategies for export missions.