Family-managed firms and local export spillovers: evidence from Spanish manufacturing firms. Issue 3 (4th March 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Amato, Stefano; Basco, Rodrigo; Backman, Mikaela; Lattanzi, Nicola
• Is Part Of: European planning studies. Volume 29:Issue 3(2021)
• Page Start: 468
• Page End: 492
• Publication Date: 2021-03-04
• Subjects: Export spillovers -- family firms -- internationalization -- regional context -- manufacturing -- Spain; Regional planning -- Europe -- Periodicals; Regional planning -- Periodicals; 307.76094
• DOI: 10.1080/09654313.2020.1743238
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0965-4313

Abstract

ABSTRACT: By combining arguments from regional economics and family business research, the aim of this article is to test the relationships among local export spillovers, management characteristics, and export propensity on a large sample of Spanish manufacturing firms over the 2003–2015 period. We find that family-managed firms, compared to their non-family counterparts, benefit more from being located in regions with a high density of exporters. Because of their firm-specific social capital and strong embeddedness in local networks, family-managed firms are better positioned to leverage the spatially bounded flow of knowledge and information in these regions, resulting in a higher likelihood to export than non-family firms. Additionally, our results show that the knowledge spillover effect is stronger for small and low-tech family firms' export propensity.