This study explores how 40 decision-makers from Swiss and Thai small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) engage and develop international partnerships to discover, create, evaluate and exploit entrepreneurial opportunities across borders. Despite the growing importance of international entrepreneurship research, there is little research considering how entrepreneurial SMEs from different cultural contexts interact with international partners to develop international entrepreneurial opportunities. The findings show how Thai and Swiss entrepreneurs engage in the development of international partnerships to create, explore and exploit opportunities. The empirical study further emphasizes the importance of trustworthy and close interpersonal relationships. The meaning of friendship in culturally different countries is also explored as it pertains to the process of SME internationalization. The findings show important cultural differences. In the collectivistic Thai context, personal and professional networks are closely intertwined. In the development of new partnerships, Thai SMEs pursue the clear objective of developing friendships. In the individualistic Swiss context, partnerships mostly originate from opportunities in the professional context and relationships tend to develop more coincidentally into a trusted friendship.
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the attributes a subsequent successor in family business should possess and to examine differences in expected attributes in the eyes of the incumbent and a successor-to-be.Design/methodology/approachDrawing upon the classic framework of Chrisman et al. (1998), 60 in-depth interviews were conducted with family business predecessors and successors-to-be in Thailand.FindingsThe attributes of competence and personality traits were prominent in this research; while the importance of current involvement with family business, relationship with incumbent, the relationship with family members, along with family standing, appears to be less important than expected in the context of an Asian collectivistic society. This research highlights the divergent gaps in the attributes desired by the incumbents and successors-to-be. 28 significant gaps between incumbents and successors-to-be have been found in 56.67% of the firms in this research. A majority of the gaps have been, surprisingly, found in the attributes of competence, incumbent relationship and family standing.Research limitations/implicationsTo increase its reliability, a study with a greater number of family businesses should be conducted, thereby increasing the amount of empirical data on this topic.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the under explored research area of differences in expected attributes in the eyes of the incumbent and a successor-to-be. They can be indicators for potential intra-family conflicts and unsmoothed transition.
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