Internationalisation of family-owned businesses in a geographically remote area
by Hamid Moini; John Kuada; Arnim Decker
International Journal of Entrepreneurial Venturing (IJEV), Vol. 8, No. 2, 2016

Abstract: This exploratory study uses a multiple case-study method of five family-owned firms in Northern Denmark. We examined a number of research questions, which were identified from the literature that may influence the internationalisation of family-owned businesses. These questions included: 1) locational liabilities; 2) degree of familiness exhibited by family-owned firms; 3) firm characteristics and nature of their products; 4) growth motive and access to information about foreign markets. Our findings suggest that internationalisation of family-owned firms is a function of its location, availability of infrastructure, family connection, and access to information about foreign markets. Although the owner of the most internationalised firm in the study was willing to give up short-term profits during the start-up period on international expansion, most of the companies in the study were unwilling to give up their short-term profitability. In addition, the more internationalised firms produce more of standardised products than customised ones; the technology contents of their products do not seem to be a determining factor in their internationalisation.

Online publication date: Thu, 07-Jul-2016

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