توانایی بازاریابی اینترنتی و رشد بازار بین المللی  Internet marketing capabilities and international market growth

1. Introduction The Internet is an evolving technology which has facilitated the development of new business relationships and has opened up cross-border market opportunities for companies (Hinson & Adjasi, 2009; Petersen, Welch, & Liesch, 2002; Rayport & Sviokla, 1994). The investigation of the Internet’s impact on the international firm is part of a growing body of knowledge in the marketing and international business literature (Mathews & Healy, 2008; Moen, Endresen, & Gavlen, 2003; Moen, Madsen, & Aspelund, 2008). Despite strong interest in the impact of the Internet on internationalisation and potential to reach foreign customers, there is a lack of comprehension of and research related to the complex relationships between the digitalization of internationalising firms and international marketing performance (Sinkovics, Sinkovics, & Jean, 2013; Yamin & Sinkovics, 2006) While the potential link between the Internet and export outcomes has been identified (Morgan-Thomas, 2009), extant research has, in the main, ignored the specific role of the Internet on international marketing pathways (Sinkovics et al., 2013), and overlooked the assessment of the Internet as a driver of the international performance of firms (Lu & Julian, 2008; Pezderka, Sinkovics, & Jean, 2012). Hence, more explanation and understanding is needed in order to determine whether the Internet has an impact on international market growth, and a fruitful avenue for evaluating this would be through the theoretical lens of the resource based view and capabilities perspective. The extent to which Internet marketing resources and capabilities contribute to firm performance in international markets remains unclear (Celuch & Murphy, 2010; Wilden, Gudergan, Neilsen, & Lings, 2013). Further, as small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) lack the resources, capabilities and knowledge of foreign markets (Arenius, Sasi, & Gabrielsson, 2005; Lui & Beamish, 2001), the Internet may act as a catalyst to overcome these limitations and stimulate foreign market expansion. Thus, given the lack of knowledge of the influence of Internet marketing resources and capabilities on a firm’s international market growth and the contribution this can make to overcome barriers to foreign market entry and expansion for SMEs, the central aim of our study is to answer the research question; how and why the Internet framed as a resource and marketing capability can trigger and stimulate international market growth of SMEs. In order to address this question, we argue that a fruitful avenue for examining how Internet technology is impacting on international marke performance is through the theoretical lens of the resource based view and capability perspective.