The ownership structure contingency in the sequential international entry mode decision process: Family owners and institutional investors in family-dominant versus family-influenced firms

Extending our understanding of family firms and international business research with respect to entry mode decisions, this study explains how entry mode choice is the product of a sequential decision-making process, with an important ownership structure contingency. We propose that firms with a dominant family owner (family-dominant firms) prefer low equity ownership as their entry mode for the purpose of preserving their socioemotional wealth....