The Palgrave Handbook of Family Firm Internationalization

Family Firms (FFs) form the majority of all firms around the world and they account for an enormous percentage of the employment, the revenue, and the GDP of most capitalist countries. While MNCs have long been thought of as the main contributors to international business, it is now recognised that a substantial number of family firms are active in the international arena.

This handbook focuses on the features which make family firm internationalization unique. Chapters provide FF specific theories and cover the process of FF internationalization. It examines the role of network ties and provides an insight into the development of family firms that have grown into big multinationals. Importantly this Handbook equips you with a better understanding of specific features of family firms as they internationalize from or to Asian or emerging markets.

Family firms offer a fruitful context to study internationalization through a process perspective, therefore this Handbook is an invaluable source of knowledge for students, scholars and policy makers in the areas of family business, entrepreneurship and internationalization.

PART I: Family firm-specific views and internationalization

Chapter 1: Internationalization Decisions in Family Firms: The Impact of Bifurcation Bias; Kano, L., Verbeke, A., & Johnston, A.

Chapter 2: Internationalisation and Family Involvement: A Stewardship Approach in the Hotel Industry;  Rienda, L., Claver, E., & Andreu, R.

Chapter 3: The Association of Socioemotional Wealth and Networking with the Internationalization of Family SMEs; Metsola, J., Torkkeli, L., Leppäaho, T., Arenius, P. & Haapanen, M.

Chapter 4: An integrative framework of family firms and foreign entry strategies

PART II: Internationalization process of family firms

Chapter 5: Internationalization of Family Firms as a Discontinuous Process: the Role of Behavioral Theory; Kuiken, A., Naldi, L. & Nordqvist, M.

Chapter 6: One family firm, four families – Developing management models of a family-values based MNC; Laari-Salmela, S., Mainela, T., Pernu, E. & Puhakka, V.

Chapter 7: Founder legacy and networking in early internationalizing family firms of history; Korhonen, S., Leppäaho, T., Amdam, R., & Jack, S.

PART III: Networks in family firm internationalization

Chapter 8: Entry nodes in foreign market entry and post-entry operation of family-managed firms; Kampouri, K. & Plakoyiannaki, E.

Chapter 9: How do family firms orchestrate their Global Value Chain?; Debellis, F. & Rondi, E.

Chapter 10: Coexistence of Economic and Noneconomic Goals in Building Foreign Partner Relationships: Evidence from Small Finnish Family Firms; Metsola, J.

Chapter 11: Networking from Home to Abroad: The Internationalization of Iberostar Group; San Roman, E., Gil-López, A. Jack, S., Díez-Vial, I. & Jack, S.

Chapter 12: Social capital and values in the internationalization of family firms: a multi-country study; Batas, S., Guiderdoni-Jourdain, K., & Leppäaho, T.

PART IV: Family firm internationalization from Emerging Markets

Chapter 13: The network dynamics during entrepreneurial internationalization: The case of a family firm from Colombia; Fuerst, S.

Chapter 14: Internationalization of a migrant family firm and contextual uncertainty: The role of ethnic social networks; Centeno-Caffarena, L. & Discua Cruz, A.

Chapter 15: Internationalization of Small Indian Family-Firms: An Emergent Theory; Jayakumar, T.

Chapter 16: Family Firms’ Internationalization: The Importance of Home Country Institutions; Kahor, E. & Strandskov, J.

Chapter 17: Internationalization Process of Developing-Country Family SMEs: The Case of Solanos Hermanos S.A. of Guatemala; Cruz-Cardenas, J. & Solis-Sierra, J.

Tanja Leppäaho is a Professor of Growth Entrepreneurship and Academy of Finland Research Fellow at LUT University, Finland. Before this Tanja worked as a Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Jyvaskyla and University of Edinburgh Business School. Tanja's areas of interest are international entrepreneurship, networking, family firms, longitudinal internationalisation process, and qualitative methodology. Tanja has received the best paper award from Babson College Entrepreneurship Research Conference and has published in leading journals, such as Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Family Business Review, International Business Review ,Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, Journal of Small Business Management, and International Marketing Review.

Sarah Jack is Professor of Entrepreneurship at Lancaster Univerisity and Stockholm School of Economics. Her research involves the use of qualitative methods to consider social aspects of entrepreneurship. Her work has been published widely in international and national journals. She has received various grants from funding bodies including: Knowledge Transfer Partnership, Nuffield Foundation, Carnegie Trust and EPSRC. Professor Jack is on the editorial boards for: Journal of Management Studies, Journal of Business Venturing, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice and Entrepreneurship and Regional Development.