Tanja Kontinen

International Opportunity Recognition Among Small and Medium‐Sized Family Firms

Current research in the field of entrepreneurship emphasizes the importance of opportunity recognition as a key element in the entrepreneurial process. It has been recognized that network ties, activeness and alertness, and prior knowledge are related to how entrepreneurs recognize new opportunities. However, it is unclear how important these factors are when a firm explores opportunities for entry into a foreign market. In this exploratory case study, covering the international opportunity recognition of eight family‐owned small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs), we found that the firms in question mainly recognized international opportunities by establishing new formal ties rather than using existing informal or family ties. The findings also indicated that due to the small size and the flexibility of the management team in family SMEs, these firms were able to react quickly to new international opportunities. However, there was no direct relationship between the prior knowledge of the firms and their international opportunity recognition. In addition, we found that trade exhibitions formed the primary context for the international opportunity recognition of the SMEs in this study. These findings motivate a set of five propositions that may lead to further studies on this topic.

Internationalization pathways of family SMEs: Psychic distance as a focal point

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how psychic distance affects the internationalization process, foreign market entry (FME), and entry mode choice of Finnish small and medium‐sized family enterprises (family SMEs) operating in France.Design/methodology/approach – The paper reports findings from an in‐depth case study covering four Finnish manufacturing family SMEs operating in the French market. The data were analyzed using the Uppsala model and distance creating and distance‐bridging factors encountered in the FME to France.Findings – The findings reveal that the family SMEs mainly followed a sequential process and favored indirect entry modes before entering the French market. The French market was psychically distant, but the case firms were able to overcome the distance by using different distance‐bridging factors. Based on the findings, it can be argued that psychic distance has an especially important role in the internationalization and the FME of family SMEs, mainly because of ...

Internationalization pathways among family-owned SMEs

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to increase understanding of the internationalization of family firms; to investigate how the framework by Bell et al. on the internationalization patterns of firms could explain the internationalization pathways taken by family‐owned small to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs); and to identify typical patterns and features in the various pathways taken by family‐owned SMEs.Design/methodology/approach – This paper reports findings from an in‐depth multiple case study with eight Finnish family‐owned SMEs.Findings – The ownership structure had the most important role in defining the internationalization pathways followed by the family‐owned SMEs: a fragmented ownership structure led to traditional internationalization pathway whereas a concentrated ownership base led to born global or born‐again global pathways.Practical implications – Family entrepreneurs should carefully consider the division of ownership and seek to build new relationships in foreign markets, in additi...

Social capital in the international operations of family SMEs

Purpose – The aim of this study is to discuss how social capital is developed in the internationalization process of small and medium‐sized family enterprises (family SMEs).Design/methodology/approach – This paper reports findings from an in‐depth multiple case study with four Finnish manufacturing family SMEs. The data were analyzed through the perspectives of structural holes, network closure, and the interplay between these two mechanisms.Findings – The material in the paper demonstrated that family entrepreneurs had a large number of structural holes when launching international operations, but also after several years of running international operations. Instead of trying to span structural holes, they concentrated merely on developing the network closure with agents and subsidiary staff. The case firms spent a lot of resources on finding suitable network ties and on developing good network closure with the selected social capital ties.Research limitations/implications – There are some aspects that m...

Distance Factors in the Foreign Market Entry of Software SMEs

Recent studies have indicated that the internationalization process of software SMEs is somewhat independent on the effect of psychic or geographic distance. However, these studies have analyzed the general pattern of entries where software SMEs not commonly follow a step-wise entry route from nearby countries to distant ones. Thus, it remains unknown what the effect of psychic and geographical distance is when these firms enter a distant foreign market. The findings in this case study reveal that psychic and geographic distance inhibited the foreign market entry of software SMEs. However, the distant foreign market entry of these firms was facilitated by distance-bridging and distance-compressing factors enabling foreign business operations despite the significant distance between the home and target country.