When a high-quality niche strategy is not enough to spur family-firm internationalization: The role of external and internal contexts

Kimberly A Eddleston (), Ravi Sarathy () and Elitsa R Banalieva ()
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Kimberly A Eddleston: Northeastern University
Ravi Sarathy: Northeastern University
Elitsa R Banalieva: Northeastern University

Journal of International Business Studies, 2019, vol. 50, issue 5, No 6, 783-808

Abstract: Abstract While prior research suggests that family firms are risk-averse with regards to internationalization, Hennart et al. (J Int Bus Stud, 2017) show that family firms selling high-quality niche products internationalize as much as their nonfamily-firm counterparts. Our Counterpoint extends Hennart et al.’s (2017) thesis by suggesting that this effect is not universal but depends on the external context (country-of-origin pro-market development) and internal context (professionalization practices). Our study demonstrates that family firms selling high-quality niche products struggle to internationalize when they are from countries with weaker pro-market development. We also show that professionalization practices benefit family firms selling high-quality niche products abroad.

Keywords: internationalization; small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs); family versus nonfamily firms; product quality; country-of-origin; pro-market development; professionalization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

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DOI: 10.1057/s41267-018-0199-8

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