The Internationalization of Small and Medium-Sized Family Enterprises

Abstract

This article assesses the role of human asset quality in the internationalization of small and medium-sized family enterprises. Building on mainstream international business theory, we propose a model with three “states” of human asset quality (low, medium, and high) available to the firm that can be linked to particular levels of export intensity. Importantly, achieving higher export intensity is not always associated with higher human asset quality across the board: There is a key difference between generic (generally available) and specialized (highly firm-specific) human asset quality. We empirically test our model through Tobit panel data analyses with random effects, whereby we study a sample of 610 Spanish firms for the period 2006 to 2010. This research represents the first-ever work conceptualizing and empirically testing a nonlinear, cubic relationship between human asset quality and small and medium-sized family enterprises’ internationalization levels. We find an S-shaped relationship between both general and specialized human assets and the level of export intensity.