This study investigates whether a digital business model helps firms internationalize faster. It tests the hypothesis that a digital business model accelerates the rate of internationalization because economies of scale enabled by digitalization exceed those offered by a non-digital business model. Based on analysis of foreign digital and non-digital entrants in the U.S. financial advice industry, the study found that while digital entrants scaled faster than their non-digital counterparts, a diverse product portfolio harmed digital entrants even when it benefited non-digital entrants. The contrast between scale and scope highlights that digitalization only conditionally benefits internationalization.

本研究调查数字商业模式是否有助于企业更快地国际化。它检验了数字商业模式加速国际化速度的假设，因为数字化带来的规模经济超过了非数字商业模式提供的规模经济。根据对美国金融咨询行业的外国数字和非数字进入者的分析，该研究发现，虽然数字进入者的规模比非数字进入者快，但多样化的产品组合损害了数字进入者，即使它有利于非数字进入者。规模和范围之间的对比突出表明，数字化只会有条件地有利于国际化。