Internationalization of family firms: How to explain different entry mode choices and knowledge transfer strategies?

This paper investigates the phenomenon of family firms’ internationalization by specifically focusing on family firms’ choice of foreign market entry mode and knowledge transfer strategy. Our conceptual model shows how family firms’ ownership structure (controlling owner, sibling partnership, or cousin consortium), and the related socioemotional wealth considerations, can influence family firms’ choice of (a) the foreign market entry mode (greenfield or brownfield), and (b) the tools adopted for knowledge transfer management (technology-based or personal coordination mechanisms). We make use of two case vignettes to exemplify some aspects of the proposed framework.