Foreign market exit in family firms: Do historical military and cultural frictions matter?
研究了中国家族企业如何因历史军事摩擦和文化摩擦而做出国外市场退出决策，发现军事摩擦增加退出概率，文化摩擦则降低退出概率，且家族管理和一代控制会强化这些影响。
In a fast-changing world, strategic decisions to exit a foreign market become more complex for family firms, owing to their vulnerability to uncertainty in internationalization. However, there is scant research on family firms’ foreign market exit with respect to their responses to contextual influences from home and host countries. This study reconciles the socioemotional wealth (SEW) perspective and the friction lens to address this gap. Using a sample of 1,455 subsidiaries established by 413 Chinese family firms in 2009-2018, we find that historical military friction increases family firms’ foreign market exit, while cultural friction leads to a lower exit propensity. We also find that family management reinforces the friction-exit relationships, and this effect is strengthened when the family firm is controlled by the first generation. Our theory and related findings deepen our understanding of the foreign market exit decision of family firms while offering important theoretical and managerial implications.