Out of the Comfort Zone! Family Leaders’ Subsidiary Ownership Choices and the Role of Vulnerabilities

Abstract

Based on the socioemotional wealth approach and a sample of 3,904 subsidiary ownership choices made by 586 family firms, this study shows that family-managed firms (i.e., those family firms with a family member in a leadership position) prefer wholly owned subsidies over joint ventures when entering foreign markets. Family-managed firms are also more likely to revise their subsidiary ownership choices and form joint ventures when in vulnerability conditions, that is, when they experience performance below aspirations and when entering a culturally distant market.