Executive summary

In a world where the Internet and good communications accelerates the globalization, having

connections across borders becomes a competitive advantage. The easy access to a

constant stream of information is making the opportunities countless, adding to the equation

that the Internet and supplementary techniques such as different types of software are

still very young, the opportunities will keep on emerge. At the moment there are still great

gaps in terms of technology between countries, which enables fast growing companies such

as Lintner to fill a niche and gain new market shares due to their technological lead and

managerial practices. But how should they enter the new markets and reach the new costumers?

This research has put the emphasis on creating a guiding discussion on how an international

expansion strategy could be formulated.

We have found that organizations can lower the risk and increase their profit potential by

combining several strategies, that they start by expanding with a low-risk strategy and then

increase the investments on the market to enable higher profitability. The benefits with this

approach is that a small computer software company can take advantage from the simplicity

and low needs for capital and then gradually increase the investment as they get market

knowledge and a solid customer base. They need to work around challenges such as cultural

differences by allowing the due diligence to take time and the targeted company to

become familiar with the intentions of the collaboration. It is important that the organization

prepares itself for the internationalization; this is done by the creation of slack resources.

The strategy they choose must be formulated and incorporated in the overall business

strategy.

To successfully describe the alternatives to expansion currently available to Lintner, an extensive

literature review has been conducted. But to fully understand the surrounding environment

and the challenges with international expansion, we have conducted several interviews

within Lintner, but also with three organizations that have previously found themselves

where Lintner is today. The findings from these interviews were interpreted and

placed in context to Lintner’s and to companies in their specific situation. This has been

done in order for us to create a meaningful contribution to Lintner’s future growth.