دانلود رایگان مقاله انتقال جمع سپاری برای بین المللی شدن در فضای مجازی

ABSTRACT

This paper explores how Facebook effectively used crowdsourced translation to accelerate its rapid internationalization. We apply the learning perspective of internationalization theory to unpack what the firm learned in order to mobilize crowd-based knowledge to facilitate internationalization in the virtual context, and how it did so. Increasingly, global activities are conducted in virtual space and virtual markets and thus the paper offers insights into successful expansion in this new terrain. The findings highlight two key points:(1) the firm used cognitive/explicitlearning to acquire external and codified knowledge, rather than the experiential knowledge traditionally suggested in the literature on the process of internationalization, and (2) the firm’s success rested on its ability to use virtual learning tools and incentive systems to acquire, articulate and integrate knowledge from communities of internationally dispersed users – the ‘‘crowd’’ – to accelerate its internationalization in cyberspace. This empirical study extends internationalization theory regarding knowledge and organizational learning.

7. Discussion and contributions

This study explores how Facebook used the crowdsourcedtranslation process to rapidly internationalize its operations in cyberspace. We extend the internationalization literature by connecting our findings with past research on learning during internationalization. Consistent with recent internationalization research (Johansen & Vahlne, 2009), we find that internationalization in cyberspace may be best understood as the creation and use of networks of (virtual) relationships to pursue business interactions on an international scale. Our case shows that Facebook relied on explicit and codified knowledge that was organized and accumulated along the translation process to facilitate its access to a new language market. This suggests that firms internationalizing in cyberspace must move beyond experiential learning and consider explicit learning with codified knowledge.