The Internet of Things and its implications for international business theory

While the Internet of Things (IoT) has been seen to provide a global network infrastructure facilitating cross-border flow of goods and information, much of the current discussion focuses rather on consumer applications, leaving its implications for global businesses underexplored. We believe that the IoT has the potential to reconfigure industry structure and particularly global value chains. In this article, we map out the benefits of the Internet of Things to firms and to industries, whilst drawing attention to numerous constraints, including a Sino-US technology race, that may prohibit the realization of these benefits for developing country firms. Furthermore, we reflect on how the Internet of Things may pose new questions to international business theory, with a particular focus on internalization decisions, as well as drawing on the thriving ecosystem perspective. Our discussion culminates with the dark side of the Internet of Things which could amplify the asymmetric power relationships already observed in global value chains.