International expansion of family firms: the moderating role of successors and external managers
by Mariasole Bannò; Sandro Trento
International Journal of Globalisation and Small Business (IJGSB), Vol. 8, No. 4, 2016

Abstract: Internationalisation is a key to productivity, profitability, innovation and growth, especially for family firms (FFs). This paper provides new evidence of the relationship between FFs' features and their international growth. Through socioemotional wealth, it investigates how family impacts a multinational firm's degree of internationalisation. Accordingly, it examines whether family affects the strategic decision to expand abroad through foreign direct investments. The sample comprises 361 Italian multinational companies affiliated with 5,348 foreign firms in the period 1994-2013. Given the continuous nature of the dependent variable, the degree of internationalisation, we adopt a multiple linear regression model. Family involvement in ownership is negatively associated with internationalisation, while governance has no effect. In contrast, the presence of young successors favours internationalisation. Moreover, the negative effect of family ownership is enhanced for firms with no external managers, and yet the negative effect of family ownership on internationalisation is lower for firms without successors.

Online publication date: Sat, 07-Jan-2017

The full text of this article is only available to individual subscribers or to users at subscribing institutions.

 
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.

Pay per view:
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.

Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Globalisation and Small Business (IJGSB):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:

Username:        Password:          Forgotten your password?

Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.

If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com