TY - JOUR
T1 - The Determinants of International Performance for Family Firms: Understanding the Effects of Resources, Capabilities, and Market Orientation
AU - Lobo, Carla Azevedo
AU - Fernandes, Cristina
AU - Ferreira, João J. M.
AU - Veiga, Pedro Mota
AU - Gerschewski, Stephan
N1 - Funding Information:
Research funding: This work is supported by FEDER funds from COMPETE 2020 and Portuguese funds - PORTUGAL 2020. Project IEcPBI - Interactive Ecosystem for Portuguese Business Internationalization - POCI-01-0145-FEDER-032139.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 the author(s), published by De Gruyter, Berlin/Boston.
PY - 2023/7
Y1 - 2023/7
N2 - Family firms (FFs) tend to display specific characteristics that differentiate them from non-family companies. In addition to the importance that FFs hold for the economic structure of many countries, their characteristics have motivated a wide range of research studies, including succession, corporate governance, and strategic management. The purpose of this study is to examine the role of resources (i.e. internationalisation networks), capabilities (i.e. employee characteristics and knowledge), and market orientation (i.e. internationalisation motivations), and how these facets influence the international performance of FFs. To this end, we administered a web-based questionnaire to a sample of 212 small and medium-sized FFs based in Portugal. In terms of the research methodology, we applied structural equation modelling (SEM) to test our hypotheses. We found that not only do resources and capabilities return a positive impact on internationalisation motivations, but also the combination of resources and capabilities and internationalisation motivations can positively influence the international performance of FFs. Our research contributes both to theory and FF management practises by analysing the strategic orientations adopted in internationalisation processes and the empirical relevance held by resources and capabilities. More specifically, we find that proactivity (i.e. internationalisation motivations), a network of contacts (i.e. resources) and assuming risks, mitigated by knowledge about the external market (i.e. capabilities), can enable the achievement of superior international performance for FFs.
AB - Family firms (FFs) tend to display specific characteristics that differentiate them from non-family companies. In addition to the importance that FFs hold for the economic structure of many countries, their characteristics have motivated a wide range of research studies, including succession, corporate governance, and strategic management. The purpose of this study is to examine the role of resources (i.e. internationalisation networks), capabilities (i.e. employee characteristics and knowledge), and market orientation (i.e. internationalisation motivations), and how these facets influence the international performance of FFs. To this end, we administered a web-based questionnaire to a sample of 212 small and medium-sized FFs based in Portugal. In terms of the research methodology, we applied structural equation modelling (SEM) to test our hypotheses. We found that not only do resources and capabilities return a positive impact on internationalisation motivations, but also the combination of resources and capabilities and internationalisation motivations can positively influence the international performance of FFs. Our research contributes both to theory and FF management practises by analysing the strategic orientations adopted in internationalisation processes and the empirical relevance held by resources and capabilities. More specifically, we find that proactivity (i.e. internationalisation motivations), a network of contacts (i.e. resources) and assuming risks, mitigated by knowledge about the external market (i.e. capabilities), can enable the achievement of superior international performance for FFs.
KW - RBV
KW - SME
KW - capability
KW - family firm
KW - international performance
KW - internationalisation motivation
KW - market orientation
KW - resource
KW - resource-based view
KW - small business
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85133434223&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1515/erj-2021-0334
DO - 10.1515/erj-2021-0334
M3 - Article
SN - 2157-5665
VL - 13
SP - 773
EP - 811
JO - Entrepreneurship Research Journal
JF - Entrepreneurship Research Journal
IS - 3
ER -