Riding the waves of family firm internationalization: A systematic literature review,integrative framework,and research agenda

Despite the proliferation in research efforts, family firm (FF) internationalization scholarship suffers from fragmentation, theoretical limitations, and empirical indeterminacy, leaving important facets unexplored. This article’s purpose is to unpack how this body of research has evolved over time and interfaces international business (IB) theory. We conduct a systematic literature review of relevant theoretical and empirical studies covering the last 30 years of research and comprising 134 articles. Our study contributes to this corpus of knowledge by identifying and discussing four evolutionary waves of FF internationalization research. We further advance an integrative framework that offers a comprehensive understanding of the state-of-the-art as well as promising avenues for future research at the intersection of IB and FFs.     

Organizational learning in exporting: A bibliometric analysis and critical review of the empirical research

In the latest decades, empirical research on organizational learning in the export context has recorded an increasing trend. On the other hand, in spite of the wealth of research on the subject, no effort has yet been made to offer an integrative review to investigate the improvement of this body of knowledge. To fill this gap, this study endeavors to synthesize the stream of empirical research on organizational learning in the field of exporting published between 1997 and 2017. Initially, the relevant studies were bibliometrically analyzed on the basis of the data gathered from the Web of Science database. The bibliometric data analysis indicates the most influential publication outlets, most influential institutions, most influential scholars, and most influential articles in relation to organizational learning in the export literature. Additionally, each article was content-analyzed in terms of scope of research, research methodology, and empirical issues. The content analysis reveals that albeit significant progress, organizational learning research within the context of exporting is still at the introduction stage and certain weaknesses in scope, research designs, and conceptual understanding attract criticism.     

The institutional context as a source of heterogeneity in family firm internationalization strategies: A comparison between U.S. and emerging market family firms

Existing research has underexplored the role of context as a source of heterogeneity in family firms’ (FFs) internationalization strategies. Drawing upon institutional theory, we develop and test a mid-range theory positing that differences in the quality of the institutional context can moderate the strength of the relationship between individual- and board-level attributes and FF internationalization. Our comparison of U.S. FFs with FFs from Brazil and Mexico reveals that in emerging market FFs, individual-level attributes such as CEO international experience, CEO educational attainment, and CEO international education exhibit a stronger relationship with internationalization. Similarly, we find that board-level attributes such as board size and board independence are also more strongly related to internationalization in emerging market contexts. We contribute to the literature by identifying a source of variation in FF internationalization strategies based on context and by examining the relationship between a wide range of FF attributes and internationalization.     

Impact of TMT structural power asymmetry on family firm internationalization

We examine the impact of the top management team’s (TMT) structural power asymmetry on a family firm’s degree of internationalization. Structural power is the administrative power drawn from formal positions and is different from ownership power. We argue that family identity creates a faultline between the family and non-family managers in the family firm’s TMT. This faultline gets strengthened when the family managers skew ‘structural power’ toward themselves (termed as ‘family structural power concentration’), leading to poor team integration and cooperation among family and non-family managers. Resultantly, family firms are unable to leverage the knowledge, expertise, and network of the non-family managers in the firm’s TMT for the firm’s internationalization attempts. We hypothesize a negative relationship between ‘family structural power concentration’ and the ‘firm’s degree of internationalization’. Further, we argue that this relationship is moderated by environmental dynamism and competitive intensity. Our findings have implications for research and practice.     

Conceptualizing cross-country analyses of family firms: A systematic review and future research agenda

The national context in which family firms operate influences their behavior and firm-related outcomes. Especially how and why family businesses differ across contexts has therefore received growing interest. Yet, the insights on family businesses across countries remain fragmented and lack integration, especially regarding how the cross-country context is operationalized. Building on comparative cross-national research, this review aims to bridge the disciplines of international business and family business. I analyze the current field of cross-country family business research building on a systematic literature review of 105 peer-reviewed studies in the period 2000–2020 with the goal to collect and structure the current body of knowledge and build a future research agenda. The findings highlight different approaches that family business research utilizes to operationalize “cross-country” elements, outlining how research applies direct comparisons between countries and comparisons based upon theoretical perspectives. Building upon this conceptualization of cross-country operationalizations, the study provides several new avenues for future research.     

Cognitive foundations of firm internationalization: A systematic review and agenda for future research

Managerial cognition has a fundamental role in the internationalization of firms. However, there exists no coherent understanding of how prior research has examined and captured the cognitive foundations of internationalization. This paper provides a systematic review of this body of literature. The review identifies three main streams of research that, overall, consists of nine more specific research areas. We show that especially the areas addressing (1) managerial learning, (2) characteristics of upper echelons, (3) intra-organizational perceptions, and (4) external actors’ perceptions provide opportunities for the further advancement of internationalization literature. For harnessing these opportunities, we find that the microfoundational approach could support the empirical examination of the cognitive foundations and would notably contribute to the Uppsala model-based theorization of the firm internationalization process.     

External managers,family ownership and the scope of SME internationalization

SMEs are important to world business and the majority of SMEs are family firms. Yet some family SMEs are inert, local firms while others are dynamic and international. Do certain governance structures encourage the scale and scope of their internationalization? We jointly apply social capital and corporate governance theories to explain the scope of family SMEs internationalization, and find that professional managers externally recruited from outside the family are important, but only for lower levels of family ownership, suggesting synergistic combinations of ownership and management. It is the combination of external capital with external managers that really works.     

Shopping mall retailing: A bibliometric analysis and systematic assessment of Chebat's contributions

Shopping malls are unique retail environments offering individual consumption experiences within a holistic retail ecosystem. Drawing on a bibliometric analysis and a systematic review of 31 articles, this research synthetizes Jean-Charles Chebat's contributions to the shopping mall literature. Findings highlight four core clusters of the shopping mall literature, namely spatial wayfinding, atmospherics, consumer differences across shopping mall experiences, and shopping mall consequences. The newly developed Shopping Mall Experience Framework extends Chebat's research proposing additional elements of interest for current mall retailing research. Managerial implications offer practical guidance on successfully designing and maneuvering shopping malls of the future.     

Internationalization and entrepreneurial orientation of family SMEs: The influence of the family character

Internationalization is an important entrepreneurial strategy for promoting the long-term growth and survivability of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Family involvement in top management teams (TMTs) can explain the heterogeneous behaviors of these firms’ international entrepreneurship process. This paper analyzes the moderating effects of the family’s influence on the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and internationalization with two TMT diversities found only in family firms: the family TMT ratio and generational involvement. An analysis of 191 Spanish family SMEs indicated that entrepreneurial orientation plays a significant role in explaining the degree of internationalization in family firms and that a diversely formed TMT shapes this relationship. A high concentration of family members in managerial positions hinders the international entrepreneurship process. This fact highlights the importance of hiring non-family managers to promote internationalization. The results also reveal that involving multiple generations in decision-making hampers entrepreneurial internationalization, generating control and coordination problems.     

On the internationalization of Turkish hospital chains: A dynamic capabilities perspective

How do professional service firms build the capabilities required for effective international operations? Although the internationalization of manufacturing firms is a widely studied topic, the literature on the internationalization of service firms remains scant. The problem is even more acute when it comes to studies of professional services such as healthcare organizations and hospitals. Yet, we encounter remarkable examples of international market expansion by professional service firms. In this paper, we report on a study of large privately-owned hospital operators from the emerging economy of Turkey, based on in-depth interviews with senior executives. Taking advantage of Turkey’s strategic location in the region, these firms have shown extraordinary entrepreneurial initiative expanding their operations beyond the home market over the past two decades. Even more impressive is the creative strategies these firms have been deploying in terms of market entry modes. These range from medical tourism to setting up diagnostic clinics abroad, operating full-service hospitals in key markets, management contracts, and attracting equity capital from international investment firms. We draw from the theory of dynamic capabilities in order to explain the success these firms have had in cultivating international market opportunities. We contend that it takes a variety of organizational capabilities for traditionally domestic-market focused firms to expand into international markets. We provide an integrative discussion and offer implications for advancing knowledge and managerial practice.     

Institutions,resources, and internationalization of emerging economy firms

An important step in the internationalization process of emerging economy firms is the shift from exports to foreign direct investment (FDI). We integrate the resource- and institution-based views to suggest that firms that can use unique institutional advantages are more likely to make this shift. We test these arguments with a longitudinal sample of 28,563 firm-year observations (1989–2005). We found that firms that are affiliated with a business group, have more firm- and group-level international experience, have more technological and marketing resources, and operate in service industries are more likely to shift from exports to FDI.     

Destructive and productive family relationships: A stewardship theory perspective

This study utilizes stewardship theory to explain why some family firms flourish while others are plagued by conflict. Our findings suggest that relationship conflict is negatively related and participative strategy process is positively related to family firm performance. In addition, we examine how altruism and control concentration affect relationship conflict and a participative strategy process. Altruism was found to significantly reduce relationship conflict and enhance a participative strategy process. However, control concentration was not significantly related to relationship conflict or a participative strategy process. The implications of our findings are discussed.     

The effect of internationalization on firm capital structure: A meta-analysis and exploration of institutional contingencies

Despite extensive research on the relationship between internationalization and firm capital structure, findings in this research area remain inconclusive. In this paper, we review the literature on the internationalization–capital structure relationship and investigate its direction, effect size, and multiple contingencies through a meta-analysis of 31 studies with a grand total of 223,658 firm observations and at least two separate samples each. Our cumulative evidence indicates lower debt ratios of multinational corporations compared to domestic corporations, in line with arguments of increased risk and agency costs in international operations. We extend our analysis to institutional characteristics in firms’ home countries and find that much of the existing variation in study findings can be explained using theory arguments on firm risk in internationalization. We contribute to an integration of international business and finance literature and point to directions for future research on determinants of the internationalization–capital structure relationship and its multiple contingencies.     

Beating the recession blues: Exploring the link between family ownership,strategic marketing behavior and firm performance during recessions

This study explores whether family firms exhibit unique marketing behavior and whether their unique behavior in turn helps them outperform non-family firms during periods of economic contraction. Findings based on a sample of 275 large publicly listed U.S. firms reveal that family firms outperform non-family firms during recessions. This superior performance is partially driven by family firms' proactive marketing behavior and their relatively strong emphasis on corporate social responsibility (CSR). During recessions, while non-family firms tend to decrease their advertising intensities and rates of new product introduction (NPI), family firms are likely to maintain relatively high levels of advertising intensity and rates of NPI. Unlike non-family firms, family firms are also likely to maintain high levels of corporate social performance (CSP) during recessions. These results underscore the benefits of proactive marketing behavior and a continued emphasis on CSR during economic downturns. The authors also add to the scant family-firm literature, demonstrating the family firm to be an effective organizational form.     

Process in family business internationalisation: The state of the art and ways forward

Although the internationalisation of family businesses (FBs) has received increasing attention in recent years, much remains to be learned about how FB internationalisation unfolds as a process. Our review of 172 empirical studies from the period of 1991–2018 indicates that only 25 studies included both longitudinal data and strong process theorising, even though internationalisation is inherently processual, and FBs are longitudinal in nature. We acknowledge that both variance- and process-based theorising are needed to build an understanding of the FB internationalisation process. We contribute to the field by building an FB internationalisation process model based on a review analysis. Within the model, process-based internationalisation pathways are combined with variance-based capabilities (positive influences) and liabilities (negative influences) that affect internationalisation, with economic and non-economic goals viewed as driving the various internationalisation processes. On the basis of the model, we suggest that future research could adopt more longitudinal and individually focused approaches, as a means to understand the FB internationalisation process in various FBs and contexts, over various time periods, life cycles, and FB generations.     

The role of internationalization on the IPO performance of service firms: Examination of initial returns,long-run returns,and survivability

This study examines the effect of internationalization on the initial and long-run IPO performance of service firms. The study discusses that pre-IPO internationalization of service firms contributes to the explanation of long-discussed IPO underpricing phenomenon, and underperformance of IPOs in the long-run. Sample of the study includes 1822 IPO issues conducted by US service firms between 1980 and 2009. Findings of the study suggest that international service firms leave less money on table in their IPOs compared to domestic service firms by providing significantly lower first day returns to their investors on their first day of public trading. Moreover, our findings provide evidence that 3-year cumulative abnormal returns and 3-year buy-and-hold returns of international service firms are significantly higher than domestic service firms, and international service firms outperform domestic service firms in both operating return on assets and operating cash flows in the post-IPO period. Lastly, the study documents that survival rate of service firms subsequent to an IPO issue increases with pre-IPO internationalization.     

When less family is more: Trademark acquisition,family ownership,and internationalization

This study examines the relationship between international performance and the orientation of the firm towards trademark acquisition, and discusses family ownership as a moderator of this association. We conceptualize our study along three interrelated lines of ‘openness’ i.e. openness towards external resources, openness of governance, and openness towards international markets. The empirical investigation relies on a panel data analysis over four years, and on a cross-industry sample of European listed companies consisting of 712 observations. Our outcomes reveal that the attitude of the company to enrich the brand portfolio with externally developed trademarks is positively associated with the firms’ international performance. We also find that this relationship is moderated by family ownership. “Less family is more”: we find a positive relationship of openness towards trademark acquisitions with the firms’ international performance, which decreases with the presence of a family in a dominant position.     

Subnational institutions,political capital,and the internationalization of entrepreneurial firms in emerging economies

This study advances the institution-based view of strategy by integrating it with firm-specific capability considerations. In particular, we investigate the integrative influence of subnational-level home country institutional environments and firm-level political capital, as an important way to seek resources, on emerging economy entrepreneurial firms’ internationalization. With data from Chinese entrepreneurial firms, we find that the development of subnational institutional environments in the home country is related to firms’ degree of internationalization. Furthermore, while political capital with low-level governments enhances the effect of subnational institutions on internationalization, political capital with high levels of government has no such moderation effect. Theoretical and empirical contributions and implications are discussed.     

The influence of firm-specific and country-specific advantages in the internationalization of emerging market firms: Evidence from Turkey

This paper examines the role of institutional factors that enable firm- and country-specific drivers of emerging market (EM) firms’ internationalization based on case-based research conducted in one EM, Turkey. Findings indicate that 10 major factors comprised of firm-specific and country-specific advantages drove the focal case study firms abroad: the firm-specific factors ranged from financial and operations supremacy; excellence in value chain activities; inexpensive human resources; rapid learning capabilities in production and technology development; and adaptability to foreign markets; while the country-specific factors included home-government policies supporting internationalization; logistical advantages arising from geographical position; adaptability capabilities resulting from former survival through institutional voids; strong social ties formed through networks; and availability of low cost resources. These findings are discussed and future research questions are offered.     

Financial literacy: A systematic review and bibliometric analysis

Given the paucity of comprehensive summaries in the extant literature, this systematic review, coupled with bibliometric analysis, endeavours to take a meticulous approach intended at presenting quantitative and qualitative knowledge on the ever‐emerging subject of financial literacy. The study comprises a review of 502 articles ‐ published in peer‐reviewed journals from 2000 to 2019. Citation network, page‐rank analysis, co‐citation analysis, content analysis and publication trends have been employed to identify influential work, delineate the intellectual structure of the field and identify gaps. The most prominent journals, authors, countries, articles and themes have been identified using bibliometric analysis, followed by a comprehensive analysis of the content of 107 papers in the identified clusters. The three major themes enumerated are—levels of financial literacy amongst distinct cohorts, the influence that financial literacy exerts on financial planning and behaviour, and the impact of financial education. Additionally, content analysis of 175 papers has been conducted for the last four years’ articles that were not covered in the co‐citation analysis. Emerging themes identified include financial capability, financial inclusion, gender gap, tax & insurance literacy, and digital financial education. A conceptual framework has been modelled portraying the complete picture, following which potential areas of research have been suggested. This study will help policy‐makers, regulators and academic researchers know the nuts and bolts of financial literacy, and identify the relevant areas that need investigation.