REASONS FOR INTERNATIONALISATION OF FAMILY BUSINESS

Many businesses opt to expand internationally. The reasons for international expansion have been broadly addressed in existing literature and typically reflect economic or strategic objectives. However, a myriad of family objectives must also be considered in the case of family businesses. This paper aims to determine the motivations for family business internationalization and their influence on international commitment in the context of family involvement. This work compares the significance of economic goals with the relevance of non-economic goals (e.g., strategic and family goals) to understand which contributes the most to a firm’s international success and growth. Focusing on international Spanish wine and olive oil businesses with various levels of family involvement, our results reveal that as family involvement increases, economic motivations become less important in justifying international strategy. Strategic and family motivations become more important in this context. We further conclude that family motivations contribute the most to international success among the three types of business motivations (economic, strategic, and family). •Various factors influence the international commitment of family businesses, including economic, strategic, and family motivations, particularly when considering family involvement in businesses.•Internationalisation is a growth-oriented strategy that simultaneously ensures long-term survival goals.•The higher the family involvement in a business, the lower the importance of economic motivations for developing an internationalisation strategy.•The higher the family involvement in a business, the greater the importance of strategic motivations in international strategy.•Family motivations contribute the most to international success.