Eureka! Institutional Repository

Our study contributes to the emerging literature stream of family business internationalization. Its purpose is twofold 1) to provide empirical evidence on the facilitators and obstacles of family firm internationalization, and 2) to understand the use of different internationalization pathways and entry modes in the internationalization of family firms. In doing so, we employ a multiple case study design that draws on various sources of data and examines 8 Greek companies in the apiculture sector. Our case study evidence fleshes out the concept of the “e-born global family firm”. This firm is distinct from the traditional “born global” firm, in that it intensively uses digital media in order to internationalize from its inception. It is versatile towards identifying opportunities and heavily relies on new technologies in order to reduce information asymmetries in foreign markets. Our cases brings to the fore the existence of a different mode of internationalization that we label as the “digital entry mode”, which allowed the investigated firms to achieve a speedy entry to foreign markets and compete in geographically distant markets in a manner limited discussed in the extant literature.