Typology of internationalization strategies of Russian IT-companies

Abstract

Research goals were to explore the structure of Russian IT-market, identify companies having assets abroad, discuss their internationalization strategies and typify them in the basis of the theoretical framework developed. During this research list consisting of 25 Russian IT-companies having offices abroad was composed. During composition of the list market segments in which Russian companies compete were analyzed and empirical market segmentation based mostly on differences in vertical activities was composed. Foreign operations of companies under research were examined according to the theoretical framework developed on the basis of existing theoretical literature as well as literature describing global industry specifics. Research included analysis of types of distribution and partnerships in which companies engage, because they significantly affected internationalization strategy. Two clusters of companies representing two market segments were composed on the base of companies’ internationalization strategies. It was concluded that these companies follow some typical internationalization strategies depending on standardization of their products and transferability of their vertical activities. Representative companies of both clusters were additionally discussed in short case-studies.