Family firms between territory and internationalization: an authenticity based perspective

Silvia Ranfagni, Andrea Runfola and Daria Sarti

Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 2021, vol. 33, issue 7-8, 555-579

Abstract: Being authentic implies maintaining a character of genuineness and honesty, while remaining coherent with oneself and one’s surrounding context over time. It can represent a critical asset to be preserved and exploited, especially in the case of family firms. This paper explores the role of authenticity as a driving force for foreign sales expansion in those family firms that are rooted in a territory. While previous studies emphasize the emergence of a trade-off between maintaining linkages with local traditions and foreign sales expansion, this paper proposes an original perspective. We aim to answer the following question: How does a family business maintain a territorial-based identity by going international? Methodologically, this study presents the cross-case analysis of six Italian family firms whose products are expressions of the cultural legacy, history, and traditions of a territory. The results of the study find their synthesis in a model for family business internationalization driven by a territorial-based authenticity. We identify four building blocks that allow for pursuing the maintaining of the links with local traditions as well as helping family firms to grow on foreign markets, namely, integration, retention, evangelization, and reinforcement.

Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/08985626.2021.1925850 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:entreg:v:33:y:2021:i:7-8:p:555-579

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/TEPN20

DOI: 10.1080/08985626.2021.1925850

Access Statistics for this article

Entrepreneurship & Regional Development is currently edited by Professor Alistair Anderson

More articles in Entrepreneurship & Regional Development from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().