The growing platform economy has revived the debate on the applicability of internalization theory in contemporary contexts. In moving this debate forward, we draw on insights from hybrids research and property rights theory to complement the internalization school. Our core contribution lies in a reconceptualization of platforms as a hybrid organizational form enabling the exchange of property rights between platform owners and complementors. Using social platforms as an example, we propose that improvement in a host country’s intellectual property protection will increase the multinational platform’s (MNP) level of internalization, and that the platform firm’s governance capabilities may weaken the effect of institutions on its operation mode. Our theoretical analysis yields new insights beyond the received view of internationalization that builds on the assumption of internalized proprietary resources. We conclude that internalization theory, as an overarching paradigm in IB, remains adaptable to new organizational forms in the digital economy.

日益增长的平台经济重新引发了关于内部化理论在当代语境中的适用性的争论。在推进这场辩论时，我们借鉴了混合研究和产权理论的见解来补充内部化学派。我们的核心贡献在于将平台重新概念化为一种混合组织形式，使平台所有者和补充者之间能够交换产权。以社交平台为例，我们提出东道国知识产权保护的提高会提高跨国平台（MNP）的国际化水平，平台公司的治理能力可能会削弱机构对其运营模式的影响。我们的理论分析产生了超越公认的国际化观点的新见解，该观点建立在内部化专有资源的假设之上。我们得出结论，内部化理论作为 IB 的总体范式，仍然适用于数字经济中的新组织形式。