Digital Capability and the Geography of African Service-Firm Internationalisation

Abstract

Digitalisation is widely assumed to reduce the friction of international expansion, yet its effects vary across service businesses. This study examines how digital capability alters the relationship between service characteristics and the speed, scope and geography of internationalisation among three established African service firms: MTN, FirstBank and Shoprite. Using a longitudinal comparative case design, the study revisits evidence from an earlier multi-case dissertation and traces subsequent developments through 2026, focusing on digital delivery, cross-border coordination, customer interface, data integration and platform scalability. The findings show that digital capability changes geography through three mechanisms: digital delivery substitutability, digital coordination extensibility and digital entry optionality. Their effects vary sharply by service type. MTN and FirstBank can digitise substantial parts of service delivery and coordination, but national regulation, licences and infrastructure preserve important territorial constraints. Shoprite gains strongly from digital coordination and customer-interface technologies, yet its grocery model remains physically embedded in stores, logistics and local supply systems. The paper develops the concept of digital geographic fungibility: the extent to which a firm's value processes can be transferred, coordinated or accessed across borders without equivalent replication of physical assets. Digital capability expands this fungibility, but physical embeddedness and host-country regulation condition its effect. The study further argues that virtual presence may constitute an entry mode in some settings, while in traditional African service multinationals digital channels more often complement rather than replace conventional entry modes.