International entry research rarely examines strategies affecting entry performance in a target country, largely due to data limitations in the traditional multinational enterprise setting. However, the emergence of digital business with trackable international performance data helps address this gap. We utilize digital freemium products as our research context to examine the effect of two major demand-side strategies associated with freemium products, network effects and word-of-mouth (WOM), on entry performance across different institutional environments. By analyzing 1,891 freemium games, we show that lower network readiness of a target country strengthens the impact of network effects on entry performance whereas higher network readiness strengthens the impact of WOM. Our findings generate new insights by integrating the literature on foreign entry performance and digital internationalization.

中文翻译：

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网络效应、口碑和进入表现：数字免费增值产品研究


国际进入研究很少研究影响目标国家进入绩效的策略，这主要是由于传统跨国企业环境中的数据限制。然而，具有可追踪国际绩效数据的数字业务的出现有助于弥补这一差距。我们利用数字免费增值产品作为研究背景，研究与免费增值产品相关的两种主要需求方策略（网络效应和口碑（WOM））对不同机构环境中进入绩效的影响。通过分析 1,891 个免费增值游戏，我们发现目标国家/地区较低的网络准备度会增强网络效应对进入绩效的影响，而较高的网络准备度则会增强口碑的影响。我们的研究结果通过整合有关外国进入绩效和数字国际化的文献产生了新的见解。