Abstract:

Introduction:
Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences is one of a leading University of Applied Sciences in Finland with over 11.000 students which covers over 50 nationalities. At 2017, Haaga-Helia started an EU –funded project to help Finnish small and medium size eCom enterprises (SME’s) efforts to internationalize the eCom operations. At first, eight companies join the project and in latter phase, four more were taken with. Besides that, two eCommerce consulting companies and three foreign Universities were recruited. Around 30 Finnish and 40 foreign students abroad take part to different phases of the project. The final goal of the project was to create an eComLab environment, where students, companies and staff members could meet and learn how to use digital tools to develop eCommerce businesses and apply those to real online shops.
The aim for this paper is to contribute to eCommerce expansion to global markets. We also want to investigate the models of how universities, their students and other domestic and foreign stakeholders can facilitate small firms´ global eCom operations. In addition, one important goal is to acquire knowledge and boost learning of fast growing online and digital business models.

eCommerce as a channel for global markets:
The development of e-commerce has revolutionized consumers’ buying habits and increased challenges and opportunities for companies in local and global markets. For customers, e-commerce offers a wide range of products and services. Customers have access to detailed product information with shopping that is not restricted to time and place, while companies are facing huge market opportunities and fierce global competition. Small companies are encountering the challenge of different digital channels and marketplaces (e.g. Amazon, Rakuten, WeChat) available for them when they take their first steps in global expansion.
E-commerce represents a significant amount of retail sales and is expected to continue to grow (Lee, Young & Johnson 2017). In Nordic countries, the development has been rapid. About 60% of people in Nordic countries (Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark) has bought items online 2017 that totals over 21 billion euros. The recent figures indicate accelerated development and Q3 2018 eCommerce index shows +43% growth rate.

Results and Implications:
The aim of this paper is to contribute to eCommerce expansion to global markets and to investigate the models of how students and university staff together with other experts can facilitate small firms´ global eCom operations. The role of international students has been significant in terms of in-depth market and buying behavior insight. Also, the results show that universities can connect different players in order to help small companies to find the right partners and encourage the domestic e-commerce firms to start global eCom operations.

Keywords:

eCommerce, global markets, digitization.