Is being conservative at home whilst taking risks abroad a suitable competitive strategy? The case of Spanish Family Firms internationalizing to Mexico

Family firms’ (FFs) importance for industrialized and developing countries and the growing competition has led to an increased interest in knowing how FFs develop their competitive strategies. Since FFs usually have a long-term vision when deciding how to compete, analyzing competitive strategies –u...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Castillo Apraiz, Julen, Arzubiaga Orueta, Unai, Palma Ruiz, Jesús Manuel
Formato: capítulo de livro
Fecha de publicación:2019
País:España
Recursos:Universidad del País Vasco
Repositorio:Addi. Archivo Digital para la Docencia y la Investigación
OAI Identifier:oai:addi.ehu.eus:10810/68998
Acesso em linha:http://hdl.handle.net/10810/68998
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:competitive strategy
exploitation
exploration
family firm
internationalization
Descrição
Resumo:Family firms’ (FFs) importance for industrialized and developing countries and the growing competition has led to an increased interest in knowing how FFs develop their competitive strategies. Since FFs usually have a long-term vision when deciding how to compete, analyzing competitive strategies –usually linked with the long-term– makes even more sense. Furthermore, FFs’ behavior is especially interesting when they have been internationalized. Thus, the purpose of our study is to improve the understanding of the competitive strategies of FFs’ internationalizing to Mexico, namely exploitation (at a national level) and exploration (at international level). Briefly, a firm’s exploitation strategy is characterized by better-using firms’ existing resources and knowledge, whereas a firm’s exploration strategy involves exploring new ways of doing. Based on data collected from 81 CEOs of Spanish firms that have been internationalized to Mexico, we use partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique. We conclude that FFs’ exploitation strategy (at a national level) has a positive impact on firms’ exploration strategy (at international level). In other words, being more efficient and leveraging current knowledge at a national level helps to pursue opportunities internationally actively.