Impact of business intelligence solutions on the internationalisation of French software firms

Abstract

Business intelligence solutions play a crucial role in the process of internationalisation for small and large companies. However, small and medium-sized firms have not been taking full advantage of these solutions. This multiple case study aims to explore the perceptions of owners and senior managers of French small and medium-sized software firms on the use of business intelligence in their internationalisation process using the updated Uppsala model as conceptual framework. The results of this research demonstrated that small and medium-sized software firms in France are not taking advantage of business intelligence solutions as most of them do not use these solutions, nevertheless, they perceive that BI solutions have a positive impact on the success of their internationalisation process. This article contains implications for practice for the BI solutions providers like having an alternative pricing model for SMEs and for the authorities to provide relevant data to software SMEs.