Research Summary: Research on the internationalization of family firms has flourished in recent years, yet the mechanisms through which family involvement shapes the determinants, processes, and outcomes of internationalization remain little understood and largely undertheorized. We contribute to research at the intersection of international business and family business by examining the roles of different sources of family firm heterogeneity and the context in shaping the determinants, processes, and outcomes of business internationalization. Drawing on this analysis, we summarize the articles published in this special issue and set out an agenda for further research aimed at advancing a more fine‐grained and contextualized understanding of internationalization in family firms.

Cantwell J. and Piscitello L. (2005) Recent location of foreign-owned research and development activities by large multinational corporations in the European regions: the role of spillovers and externalities, Regional Studies39, 1-16. This paper examines the role of spillovers and externalities in influencing the recent siting of foreign-owned research and development activities in European regions. In accordance with the literature on knowledge creation in multinational corporations, the location of foreign-owned research tends to agglomerate depending upon the potential for the following different sources of spillovers and externalities: (1) intra- industry spillovers or specialization externalities associated with the presence of a wide-ranging collection of firms active in the same sector; (2) inter-industry spillovers or diversity externalities associated with the co-presence of firms working in different fields; and (3) science-technology spillovers and externalities stemming from the presence of a munificent scientific and educational infrastructure. Additionally, benefits from spillovers decline with distance, but this holds especially for intra- and inter-industry spillovers. Cantwell J. et Piscitello L. (2005) L'implantation recente dans les regions d'Europe des centres de recherche a capital majoritaire etranger par les societes multinationales: le role des retombees et des effets externes, Regional Studies39, 1-16. Cet article cherche a examiner le role des retombees et des effets externes quant a l'implantation recente dans les regions d'Europe des centres de recherche a capital majoritaire etranger. Conformement a la documentation sur la creation de la connaissance dans les societes multinationales, les emplacements des centres de recherche a capital majoritaire etranger ont tendance a s'agglomerer en fonction des differentes sources de retombees et d'effets externes: a savoir, (1) des retombees intraindustrielles ou des effets externes dus a la specialisation, qui s'associent a la presence d'un large parc d'entreprises du meme secteur; (2) des retombees interindustrielles ou des effets externes dus a la diversite, qui s'associent a la presence des entreprises de divers secteurs; et (3) des retombees scientifiques et technologiques, et des effets externes qui remontent a la presence d'une infrastructure scientifique et scolaire avantageuse. En plus, il s'avere que les retombees diminuent en fonction de la distance, surtout pour les retombees intra et interindustrielles. Cantwell J. und Piscitello L. (2005) Fur in auslandischem Besitz befindliche Forschungs-und Entwicklungsunternehmen neuerlich in europaischen Regionen von grossen multinationalen Firmen gewahlte Standorte: die Rolle von Verbreitung und externen Effekten, Regional Studies39, 1-16. Dieser Aufsatz untersucht die Rolle von Verbreitung und externen Effekten bei der Beeinflussung kurzlich erfolgter Standortwahlen fur in auslandischem Besitz befindliche Forschungs-und Entwicklungunternehmen in europaischen Regionen. In ubereinstimmung mit d...

Extant literature on foreign entry increasingly recognizes firms' heterogeneity as a potential reason for inconsistency in results on the establishment mode choice, that is, whether and under which conditions firms should choose to enter a new country through a greenfield investment or an acquisition. Our study contributes to this debate by identifying family ownership and family involvement in management as potential powerful sources of such heterogeneity. Integrating international business studies with both corporate finance literature on family firms and recent contributions from the Socio Emotional Wealth perspective on family ownership, we claim that, due to greater risk aversion and lower access to information, the family involvement both in the firm ownership and management leads to a higher propensity towards greenfield initiatives (vs acquisitions). However, we also find that such a propensity decreases with international experience especially in family-owned firms given the greater ability of professionalized management to overcome family-related concerns on making acquisitions. Our analysis on 1045 foreign initiatives undertaken by 311 Italian family and non-family firms between 2003 and 2013 confirms our expectations, indicating family ownership as a significant driver of firms' international strategies.

It is now well recognized that multinational enterprises (MNEs) are differentiated networks wherein subsidiaries vary in terms of their ability to create new knowledge and competencies for their parent groups. In much of this theory, it is taken for granted that subsidiary innovativeness has a positive correlation with the extent of reverse knowledge transfers to the parent MNE. Relying on the headquarterssubsidiary view of the MNE, we argue that, beyond a point, increasing subsidiary innovativeness will be associated with lower reverse knowledge transfers. Further, we argue that this relationship is sensitive to the subsidiary entry mode. Using data from a sample of 293 Italian subsidiaries, we find strong support for our hypotheses. In particular, our results confirm that the effect of subsidiary innovativeness on reverse knowledge transfers displays an inverted-U shape, and that the curvilinearity is greater for greenfield entries relative to acquisition entries. The U-shaped relationship between subsidiary innovativeness and reverse knowledge transfers, as well as the sensitivity of this result to entry mode are important new findings in the literature on the role of subsidiaries in competence creation.

The new techno-economic paradigm of the information age has brought about new structures and processes in international business (IB). In this article, we examine the changing nature of the competitive advantages of places, the competitive advantages and strategies of firms, and the governance structure of IB networks in what has also been called the third industrial revolution. These three areas of change in IB activities can be mapped respectively to the location (L), ownership (O) and internalization (I) advantages of the eclectic paradigm. We interpret these OLI factors as dynamic constructs in order to depict analytically the shifts in the IB environment and their implications for IB.

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