ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper is to investigate whether family-centred goals impact on family firms’ export performance and to determine the extent to which the geographic focus (regional versus global) of the firm’s strategy changes this relationship. Our hypotheses are tested on a sample of 195 medium to large family firms. The main findings show that, while family-centred non-economic (FCNE) goals negatively impact on export performance, family-centred economic (FCE) goals have a positive influence. Moreover, empirical evidence suggests that both effects are stronger when firms adopt an international strategy with a global, rather than regional, focus. We therefore suggest that a global strategy is detrimental for those family firms strongly prioritizing FCNE goals yet beneficial for those strongly prioritizing FCE goals. Overall, our study theoretically and empirically shows that the actual emphasis that family firm owners place on family-centred goals may either facilitate or inhibit their international sales and that this influence is moderated by the geographic focus of their international activities. In so doing, our study improves our knowledge of why some family firms are more successful than others in their international endeavours.

摘要

本文的目的是调查以家族为中心的目标是否会影响家族企业的出口业绩，并确定企业战略的地理重点（区域与全球）在多大程度上改变了这种关系。我们的假设在 195 家大中型家族企业的样本中得到检验。主要调查结果表明，虽然以家庭为中心的非经济 (FCNE) 目标对出口绩效产生负面影响，但以家庭为中心的经济 (FCE) 目标却具有积极影响。此外，经验证据表明，当公司采用以全球而非区域为重点的国际战略时，这两种影响都会更强。因此，我们建议全球战略对那些高度重视 FCNE 目标的家族企业不利，但对那些高度重视 FCE 目标的家族企业有利。总体，我们的研究从理论上和实证上表明，家族企业所有者对以家庭为中心的目标的实际重视可能会促进或抑制他们的国际销售，而且这种影响会被他们的国际活动的地理重点所缓和。通过这样做，我们的研究提高了我们对为什么一些家族企业在其国际业务中比其他家族企业更成功的认识。