Firm ownership and internationalisation: is it context that really matters?

Abstract

This paper considers the potential role played by different kinds of shareholders in the firms' international level, distinguishing the firms quoted in the UK from those listed in the countries of Continental Europe (France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain). Our results confirm that different kinds of ownerships affect the overall level of a firm's internationalization. Family ownership has a negative impact on foreign sales in the UK but not in Continental Europe, while Bank ownership has a negative impact on the scope of FDI in Continental Europe but no impact whatsoever in the UK. Institutional investors positively impact the scope of both foreign sales and FDI in the UK, while in Continental Europe they have a negative impact on foreign sales. These different results contribute to explaining why previous studies that have focused on just one country or a single measurement of internationalization have come up with such contrasting results.

Distance to Customers, Absorptive Capacity, and Innovation in High‐Tech Firms: The Dark Face of Geographical Proximity

“…This cluster is also known for its high export rates due to the presence of several important foreign multinationals. The high number of specialized firms located in this small area has led to the development of new businesses and the rapid diffusion of knowledge among local actors (Majocchi, Odorici, and Presutti ). This urban cluster has already been the focus of previous international studies (Presutti, Boari, and Majocchi ).…”

Export behavior and corporate governance

“…According to Filatotchev and Wright (2017, p. 458), "Governance factors may themselves be outcomes of various firmlevel characteristics within a dynamic perspective"for instance, "better performing companies may attract better independent directors" (Filatotchev and Wright, 2017, p. 458). With static studies, it is difficult to detect causal links between firms' organizational characteristics and internationalization (Filatotchev et al, 2001) and explore how institutional contexts evolve (Majocchi et al, 2016). Thus, future studies should use longitudinal data.…”

“…According to some authors, differences in corporate governance [1] like ownership type (Majocchi et al, 2016), business group membership (Holmes et al, 2018;Strange et al, 2009) and board composition (Ilhan Nas and Kalaycioglu, 2016) can influence firms' internationalization decisions and export behavior (Bauweraerts et al, 2019;Cristiano, 2018;Dixon et al, 2015). For instance, they affect firms' access to resources and attitudes toward risk (Fernández and Nieto, 2006) but also cause internal conflicts (Aguilera et al, 2019).…”

The evolution of inter-organisational social capital with foreign customers: Its direct and interactive effects on SMEs’ foreign performance

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