The Internationalization Process

Abstract

“By contributing to make technical and legal obstacles to trade more and more permeable, data services have undoubtedly been instrumental in the increasing importance of services as a whole in international transactions” [Lanvin, 1986]. Technological developments indeed represent one major factor in the internationalization of service activities, through the modification of marketing modes that they bring about. This has been referred to earlier (chapter 5) for individual service activities. As data services continue to develop and the technological means at their disposal undergo constant transformation, it is difficult at this point in time to perceive the durable changes in production structures that will develop. Moreover, it seems clear that innovations in the field of telematics are not the only source of expansion of service activities internationally. Parallel to the expansion of transborder data flows generated by the rapid evolution of telecommunication technologies, recent decades have witnessed a considerable growth in foreign direct investment by service companies. For example, as table 6-1 shows, outward flows of foreign direct investment in services of three major countries have about tripled between the late 1960s and the early ’80s.