Role of digitalisation in the internationalisation of polish agricultural machinery companies: results from a qualitative study

Digitalisation has revolutionised the way enterprises operate, influencing the development of business models, marketing communication, distribution, and customer relationship management. Over the last few years, internationalisation at the intersection of digitalisation research has become a significant topic in academic literature (Appiah et al., 2025). Researchers such as Birkinshaw (2022) and Katsikeas et al. (2020) call for studies on how digitalisation affects the internationalisation of companies. This article aims to identify the role of digitalisation in accelerating internationalisation processes within the agricultural machinery industry, with a particular focus on the industrial sector. A qualitative approach was adopted for this study. Individual in-depth interviews were conducted with six managers responsible for international strategies in agricultural machinery manufacturing companies in Poland.

The research results demonstrated that internationalisation processes can be supported by digitalisation at both the initial stage (e.g., gaining market knowledge and identifying new opportunities) and at the operational stage (e.g., managing foreign marketing activities and overcoming market entry barriers). These findings align with the results obtained by Etemad et al. (2010) and Neubert (2018). To date, research has primarily focused on the internationalisation of service sector firms, tech start-ups, born-global companies, and niche organisations utilising digital tools for expansion. In the context of industrial enterprises, there is a lack of detailed research on the use of digital tools for foreign expansion and on how digitalisation supports establishing and maintaining customer relationships. For business practice, the study suggests that managers should use digital tools to strengthen market intelligence, partner communication, and virtual relationship building, thereby increasing organisational readiness and agility for foreign market entry.