Abstract

Family-owned firms have unique advantages for internationalization including reduced agency costs for speedy and flexible decision-making, patient and survivability capital for long-term investment, social capital for easier and lower cost access to external finance, and resources including, but not limited to, formal and informal networks. Despite these advantages, scholars suggest that the aforementioned advantages are undermined by family owners’ conservative attitudes toward investment diversification, a lack of professional experience on international markets, less willingness to hire outside professional managers, less willingness to utilize professional training, and a reluctance to secure external financial resources for fear of losing family control of the firm (Banalieva & Eddleston, 2011).