Internationality of value chain activities and the export orientation of micro- and small family businesses in Western Austria

Abstract

Based on a sample of 461 micro- and small family businesses in Western Austria, this study aimed to analyze the degree of internationalization of individual activities in the value chain and their influence on the export probability of family firms. The results show that exporting and non-exporting micro- and small family businesses are internationalized in different value chain activities and can partly explain the export probability. The resource-based view (RBV) can only be used to a limited extent to explain the export activities of micro- and small family firms, and certain firm-specific and individual-decision-maker characteristics can significantly explain export probability. The findings suggest that a) micro- and small family firms take different paths of internationalization concerning their value chain and b) that the global value chain (GVC) approach should be integrated into theoretical concepts to obtain an improved explanatory model of the internationalization behavior of (family) businesses.