Internationalization strategies to India in three Finnish ICT SMEs

Abstract

The size of the Indian market and its proximity to Finland does not have a positive correlation with the actual volume of business operations between the two countries. The ICT industry is a major sector where Finland’s strong expertise is valuable, but only sparingly do companies internationalize to serve the Indian market. The purpose of the study is to evaluate how cultural and business aspects of India affect the development of Finnish ICT SMEs’ operations in the market. To investigate these relationships the Indian culture is researched from a Finnish perspective and data is collected from three ICT SME case studies. In addition, the internationalization process of these SMEs is also evaluated theoretically and empirically. The combination of the analysis of cultural aspects and internationalization strategies allows drawing conclusions to the development of the operations in the three case studies and offer managers of ICT SMEs with more insight on the internationalization strategies to India. The observations are drawn from experienced international managers with responsibilities to operate the Indian operations of these ICT SMEs. The common factors and differentiations within the case studies are evaluated to give perspective into the challenges, opportunities, successes and failures that are experienced in the internationalization process. The findings include positive perceptions on the opportunities, ease of doing business and cultural fit with the Indian market for Finnish ICT SMEs. On the other hand, there are notable downsides to acknowledge for companies considering the Indian market in their internationalization strategy. In addition, this thesis illustrates the position of the Indian market entry within the global strategies of the case studies. Lastly, observations are made into the state of Indian and Finnish relationships for the future, which are commonly expected to be distinguishable.