Diversification in family firms: a systematic review of product and international diversification strategies

Abstract

Diversification represents an integral part of corporate strategy and is receiving increasing attention in the context of family firms. While family firms’ unique preferences in diversification decisions is the subject of a substantial amount of research, the commonalities and differences between the two dominant types of diversification, namely, product and international diversification, have only been explored cursorily. In fact, family business scholars treated product and international diversification as largely distinct phenomena. This paper seeks to close this research gap by taking stock of the extant literature and providing the first systematic review of both the product and international diversification research on family firms. The review analyzes 136 peer-reviewed scholarly articles published between 1991 and February 2018, provides a critical assessment of these research efforts, and proposes a family firm diversification research framework that can serve as a common foundation to guide future research. The article concludes by outlining five key recommendations for future research.