Due to today’s increasingly competitive global market environment, business model scalability and internationalization have become a necessity for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) (Durmaz & Ilhan, 2015). “Scalability” refers to a SME’s ability to grow quickly without being hindered by constraints imposed upon its business model structure (Lund & Nielsen, 2018; Monteiro, 2019). In particular, SMEs seeking growth need to consider early and rapid internationalization as many national markets are not only highly competitive, but also too small, mature, and isolated for lucrative growth (Freeman et al., 2005; Taylor & Jack, 2011). Although Abdi and Aulakh (2018) submit that SMEs can derive scaling benefits from expansion both within their national market and across national boundaries, the latter is likely to provide them with more benefits. By expanding across borders, they can gain access to new markets, achieve economies of scale and scope, engage in beneficial learning opportunities, and utilize low-cost factor inputs (Kim & Aguilera, 2015), all relevant aspects in business model scaling. Further, Abdi and Aulakh (2018) note that internationalization augments a SME’s scale of operations, which is a key determinant of performance.

中文翻译：

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在线中小企业的数字化、国际化和规模化

由于当今竞争日益激烈的全球市场环境，商业模式的可扩展性和国际化已成为中小型企业 (SME) 的必需品 (Durmaz & Ilhan, 2015)。“可扩展性”是指中小企业在不受其商业模式结构限制的情况下快速增长的能力（Lund & Nielsen，2018 年；Monteiro，2019 年）。特别是，寻求增长的中小企业需要考虑尽早和快速的国际化，因为许多国家市场不仅竞争激烈，而且太小、太成熟和孤立，无法实现有利可图的增长（Freeman 等，2005；Taylor & Jack，2011）。尽管 Abdi 和 Aulakh（2018 年）提出，中小企业可以从其国内市场和跨国界的扩张中获得规模效益，后者很可能为他们提供更多的好处。通过跨境扩张，他们可以获得进入新市场的机会，实现规模经济和范围经济，参与有益的学习机会，并利用低成本要素投入（Kim & Aguilera，2015），以及商业模式扩展的所有相关方面。此外，Abdi 和 Aulakh（2018 年）指出，国际化扩大了中小企业的经营规模，这是绩效的关键决定因素。