Call for papers: "Internationalisation of Family Business Groups"

For a special issue of the European Journal of International Management.

Internationalisation strategies of family business groups vary across developed and emerging free-market economies (e.g. Etemad 2013; Astrachan 2010). While a growing literature addresses issues related to the internationalisation of family business groups (e.g. Zahra, 2003; Donckels & Fröhlich 1991), there has been less of a research focus on (1) how institutional pressures moderate their internationalisation process, (2) the motivations behind their internationalisation (e.g. Ward 1997), and (3) the specific internationalisation strategies adopted. This special issue is open to theoretical and empirical papers that analyse the link between family business groups and their internationalisation processes.

Different institutional contexts might dictate family business groups’ responses to institutional pressures. Formal (official regulations and laws) and informal (traditions and customs) institutions might challenge the internationalisation of family business groups (e.g. Dickson et al. 2006). It might be argued that in turbulent institutional settings, both challenges and opportunities encourage the internationalisation of family business groups. External challenges may be in developing alliances with partners with local knowledge (e.g. Lu & Beamish, 2001). However, family business groups could also face internal challenges, as their members could have different global visions, mindsets and entrepreneurial personalities (e.g. Hutchinson et al. 2007).

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Responses by family business groups to political and societal institutional arrangements to gain access to international developed and emerging markets
• Effects of family management on the intention for internationalisation
• Effects of family culture and ethnicity on internationalisation
• Intentional vs. opportunistic impacts on family business practices in international expansion
• Extension of family network relations into international operations
• Where and how family groups internationalise
• Types of strategic alliances that family groups use in their internationalisation strategies
• Family firm life cycles and internationalisation
• Sources of financing for implementing family business group internationalisation strategies
• Roles of governments in family business internationalisation
• Human resource issues for family businesses in international commerce
• Supply chain issues faced by family firms in internationalisation
• Perceptions that international business partners hold of family ownership

Important Dates

Submission of manuscripts: 18 May, 2015
Notification to authors: 22 June, 2015
Final versions due: 16 November, 2015