Resource Initial Heterogeneity, Market Acquisition, and Use in Family Firms

The main goal of this study is to shed some light on the following research question related to a fundamental and overlooked aspect of the RBT: Can firms possessing heterogeneous initial resource endowments combine such resources with others acquired outside in order to develop strategic resources? To answer this question, we take family firms (characterized by possessing a heterogeneous initial resource; i.e. familiness) as reference point and compare them with nonfamily firms (not characterized by possessing familiness). More specifically, we analyze to what extent family firms exhibit a superior internationalization behavior (as a firm-specific strategic resource) and higher performance with respect to nonfamily firms when they decide to acquire the same type of external resources, given their respective initial (differentiated in terms of familiness) resource endowments. This question is tested using a large-scale survey of manufacturing family and nonfamily firms in Spain for the period between 2006 and 2008. Empirical results provide strong support for our theoretical arguments.