Understanding Family Business Internationalisation: A Systematic Literature Review with Thematic Lenses

Abstract

This article is a systematic review and a critical examination of 61 journal articles (published from 1996 to 2019) on the family business internationalisation (FBI). The purpose of this article is to identify the key factors that have an impact on the FBI. The result of a systematic review of factors affecting the growth of FBIs is presented and utilises both the Australian Business Deans Council ranking and H-index to objectively demonstrate all the factors that can have an impact on family business to internationalise. The key findings reveal a total of five factors out of 108 factors, which were mentioned in minimum of four papers. Using the most influential articles identified in the analysis, the article concludes with six factors family ownership, role of networks, mindset of the family founder, cross-generational involvement, family involvement which needs to be controlled by family business if they want to achieve internationalisation.