Digital opportunity assessment in international markets

This study examines external environmental factors (political/legal, socio-economic, and technological) most strongly associated with e-commerce sales in emerging vs. developed markets. This study uses longitudinal archival data and conducts a partial least squares-structural equation modelling to investigate the impact of environmental factors. The results indicate that technological factors, among others, are the most associated with e-commerce sales in both emerging and developed markets. There is no significant difference between the two country groups regarding the association of political/legal factors with e-commerce sales. Socio-economic factors are more highly associated with e-commerce sales in emerging markets than in developed countries. This study extends the previous literature by combining market opportunity analysis with the PEST framework to assess digital opportunities in international markets. Furthermore, the study uses partial least squares-structural equation modelling to compare developed countries with emerging markets.