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.     

A simple Keynesian model of inflation and unemployment under rational expectations

Zusammenfassung Ein einfaches keynesianisches Modell der Inflation und der Arbeitslosigkeit bei rationalen Erwartungen. — Dieser Aufsatz entwickelt ein einfaches makro?konomisches Modell keynesianischer Struktur, in dem eine lang-same Anpassung der Nominall?hne das gleichzeitige Bestehen von Inflation und Arbeitslosigkeit zul?βt. Die Preise der Fertigwaren sind vollst?ndig flexibel, und die Erwartungen hinsichtlich der zukünftigen Preisbewegungen werden rational ge-bildet, so daβ sie alle Informationen über institutionelle Beschr?nkungen des Arbeits-marktes und über die w?hrungs- und fiskalpolitischen Regeln der Regierung ent-halten. Es wird gezeigt, daβ es trotz kurzfristiger Starrheit der L?hne m?glich ist, die Volkswirtschaft sofort bei Zielgr?βen für Inflation und Besch?ftigung zu stabili-sieren, wenn man die Maβnahmen so kombiniert, wie R. Mundell (1971) vorgeschla-gen hat, d.h. die Rate der monet?ren Expansion sollte sich nach der angestrebten Inflationsrate richten und die Fiskalpolitik dem Besch?ftigungsziel dienen.

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Résumé Un simple modèle Keynesien d’inflation et de ch?mage sous des expectatives rationelles. — Ce papier développe un simple modèle macroéconomique de la structure Keynesienne où l’ajustement lent des rémunérations nominales permet la coexistence de l’inflation et du ch?mage. Les prix des biens finaux sont complètement flexibles et les expectatives concernant les mouvements futurs des prix sont formées rationellement en manière qu’elles incorporent toutes les informations regardant les restrictions institutionelles sur le marché du travail aussi bien que les règles de la politique monétaire et fiscale du gouvernement. Nous démontrons que, malgré de la rigidité salariale à court terme il est possible de stabiliser immédiatement l’économie sur le niveau des buts d’inflation et de ch?mage supposé que la combinaison des politiques recommandée par R. Mundell ({dy1971}) soit pour-suivie, c’est-à-dire que le taux de l’expansión monétaire devrait être lié au but d’inflation et la politique fiscale au but de ch?mage.

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Resumen Un modelo keynesiano simple de inflación y desempleo bajo expec-tativas racionales. — En este artículo se desarrolla un modelo macroeconómico simple de una estrutura keynesiana, donde un ajuste lento de los salarios nominales permite la coexistencia de inflación y desempleo. Los precios de los bienes finales son completamente flexibles y las expectativas referentes a movimientos futuros de precios se forman racionalmente, de tal manera que ellas incorporan toda la información referente a limitaciones institucionales en el mercado del trabajo, como también las reglas gubernamentales de las políticas monetaria y fiscal. Se muestra, que a pesar de la rigidez de corto plazo de los salarios, es posible estabilizar instan-tàneamente la economia a niveles establecidos como metas para la inflación y el desempleo, siempre que se aplique la mezcla de politicas recomendada por R. Mundell (1971), p.ej.: la tasa de expansión monetaria debe ser ajustada a la tasa de inflación asignada como meta y la política fiscal a la tasa de desempleo asignada como meta.

     

The structuralist explanation in the theory of inflation

This paper argues that three main elements form the basis of both the Latin American and the European branches of the structuralist school of inflation theory. These elements are: (1) relative prices that change when economic structure changes; (2) downward inflexibility of (some) money prices; and (3) a passive money supply closing the deflationary gap caused by price increases. The only difference between the two branches is what they consider to be the main cause of structural change.The object of this paper is to show that models worked out by Latin American structuralists during the 1960s and models developed recently by European structuralists have a common reduced form and describe similar inflationary processes.     

Three decades of research on corporate governance and R&D investments: a systematic review and research agenda

This paper reviews and systematizes the empirical research on the nexus between corporate governance (CG) and investments in research and development (R&D) published in leading business, management, economics and finance journals over the past 30 years. We find that CG is key in shaping R&D investments. Moreover, the effects of both firm- and country-level CG are important for both internal and external R&D investments. Drawing on our review, we welcome future studies to examine the effect of the interplay between various CG mechanisms and different types of R&D investments, and possibly identify mediating variables besides the moderating ones. Moreover, we highlight the need for future interdisciplinary studies, as well as investigations of private companies and across developing countries. Whenever causal interpretations are attempted, both sample selection and endogeneity problems should be addressed, along with testing the CG-R&D investment nexus for nonlinear dynamics. The implications of the study for both theory and practice are also discussed.     

Political risk in private participation projects: The effects of political discretionality and corruption

This article investigates the impact of political risk on the performance of private participation infrastructure projects in emerging markets. Previous studies have shown that firms in regulated sectors are prone to employ political capabilities in their investments overseas. Our analysis of 32,257 projects in 114 emerging countries from 1997 to 2013 shows that higher political discretionality in the host country is negatively associated with project completion. In contrast, a higher level of corruption in the host country is positively associated with project completion. The study makes a contribution to the literature on political risk in foreign direct investments.     

Investment opportunities and R&D investments in family and nonfamily firms

The firm’s investment opportunity set (IOS) reflects the prospective growth opportunities related to physical and human capital investments. IOSs are largely firm specific, embedded in assets-in-place, or generated by experience curves, learning-by-doing, and other similar phenomena. However, the value of an IOS can be destroyed if a firm does not exercise the option to invest. In this study, we theorize that a firm’s ability to invest in R&D is conditional on the availability of a favorable IOS. We test our theoretical propositions in the European business environment using a sample of large publicly traded firms with concentrated ownership. Our findings support the notion that the IOS is a significant determinant of corporate R&D investments, but the magnitude of this effect depends on the identity of the ultimate owner. Specifically, the sensitivity of R&D investments of family- and state-owned corporations is higher to favorable IOS than that of widely held corporations, suggesting these firms are more responsive to favorable IOS than others. By introducing the IOS dimension, our results have interesting implications for both theory and practice.