Corporate ownership types and internationalization strategies: The moderating role of home country capitalism

Abstract

Despite widespread academic consensus that firm ownership impacts internationalization, there is disagreement on which ownership type increases internationalization. Also, the risk differentials of internationalization strategies need to be considered: sales internationalization (a low-risk strategy) and asset internationalization (a high-risk strategy). Furthermore, home-country capitalism can moderate these relationships – a relationship unexamined in such research. Using a sample of US, Western European, and emerging-market firms, this paper addresses these research gaps. It examines how five different firm-ownership types (government, family, institutional, managerial, and corporate) and home-country capitalism influence internationalization strategies. We find that government ownership reduces sales internationalization. Family and institutional ownership increases sales internationalization, whereas institutional, managerial, and corporate ownership increases asset internationalization. Higher home-country capitalism reduces the impact of institutional and corporate owners on sales internationalization while increasing the impact of all five ownership types on asset internationalization. Our findings have implications for corporate governance and internationalization literature and practice.