Family firms between territory and internationalization: an authenticity based perspective

Being authentic implies maintaining a character of genuineness and honesty, while remaining coherent with oneself and one’s surrounding context over time. It can represent a critical asset to be preserved and exploited, especially in the case of family firms. This paper explores the role of authenticity as a driving force for foreign sales expansion in those family firms that are rooted in a territory. While previous studies emphasize the emergence of a trade-off between maintaining linkages with local traditions and foreign sales expansion, this paper proposes an original perspective. We aim to answer the following question: How does a family business maintain a territorial-based identity by going international? Methodologically, this study presents the cross-case analysis of six Italian family firms whose products are expressions of the cultural legacy, history, and traditions of a territory. The results of the study find their synthesis in a model for family business internationalization driven by a territorial-based authenticity. We identify four building blocks that allow for pursuing the maintaining of the links with local traditions as well as helping family firms to grow on foreign markets, namely, integration, retention, evangelization, and reinforcement.