Diese kumulative Dissertation besteht aus drei Abschnitten.                                 I. Geopolitics, Aid and Growth Wir untersuchen den Effekt kurzfristiger politischer Motive auf die Effektivität von Entwicklungshilfe. Dabei testen wir, ob der Effekt der Hilfe auf Wirtschaftswachstum reduziert wird durch den Anteil der Jahre während der Hilfsvergabe, die ein Land temporäres Mitglied des Sicherheitsrates der Vereinten Nationen war. Diese Mitgliedschaft sorgt für eine quasi zufällige Variation in der Höhe der vergebenen Hilfsgelder. Unsere Ergebnisse zeigen, dass der Zusammenhang zwischen Hilfe und Wachstum schwächer und niedriger ist für Hilfe, die während der temporären Mitgliedschaft vergeben wurde. Unsere zwei Schlussfolgerungen sind: Erstens, der Einfluss politischer Motive untergräbt die Effektivität der vergebenen Hilfsgelder. Zweitens, Variablen die politisches Interesse widerspiegeln sind ungeeignet als ökonometrische Instrumente für Entwicklungshilfe. Dies weckt Zweifel an einer großen Anzahl existierender Forschungsergebnisse. II. Is there a Home Bias in Sovereign Ratings? Kreditratingagenturen werden oftmals für angeblich verzerrte Länderratings kritisiert. Dieser Abschnitt diskutiert, wie das Heimatland einer Ratingagentur deren Ratingentscheidungen aufgrund polit-ökonomischer Einflüsse und kultureller Unterschiede beeinflussen kann. Mithilfe von Daten über neun Agenturen aus sechs unterschiedlichen Ländern testen wir, ob die Agenturen bessere Ratings an ihr Heimatland oder mit ihnen ökonomisch, politisch oder kulturell verbundene Länder vergeben. Unsere Ergebnisse liefern Belege für die Existenz einer Verzerrung zugunsten des jeweiligen Heimatlandes, kulturell ähnlicher Länder, und von Ländern, in denen die Banken des Heimatlandes größeren Risiken ausgesetzt sind. Dabei scheint die linguistische Ähnlichkeit der Sprache die Haupterklärung für den gemessenen Vorteil des Heimatlandes zu sein. III. Crime, Incentives and Political Effort: A Model and Empirical Application for India Der große Anteil an Politikern, gegen welche kriminelle Vorwürfe erhoben werden, hat eine öffentliche Debatte und eine Literatur über dessen Gründe und Auswirkungen ausgelöst. Um die Auswirkungen von Kriminalität abzuschätzen, entwickeln wir ein Modell über die Anreize, welchen Abgeordnete ausgesetzt sind wenn sie entscheiden ob sie sich für ihren Wahlkreis engagieren sollen. Wir nutzen drei direkte und gut messbare Maße für das Engagement der Abgeordneten in der vierzehnten Lok Sabha während der Legislaturperiode von 2004-2009: Anwesenheitsquoten, Aktivität im Parlament und die Nutzungsrate eine Fonds für lokale Entwicklungsprojekte. Die Ergebnisse legen nahe dass kriminelle Abgeordnete im Schnitt ungefähr 5% niedrigere Anwesenheitsquoten haben, und niedrige Nutzungsraten des Fonds, aber sich nicht bezüglich der Aktivität im Parlament unterscheiden. Diese Unterschiede hängen vom ökonomischen Entwicklungsstand des Wahlkreises, einem Proxy für Möglichkeiten illegale Renten zu extrahieren und für die Intensität der Überwachung des Abgeordneten durch die Wähler, sowie von der Definition von Kriminalität ab. Wir nutzen beobachtbare Kontrollvariablen, Matchingtechniken und „Treatment Effect“ Regressionen, um zu zeigen, warum diese negativen Koeffizienten eine Obergrenze für den tatsächlich wohl noch größeren negativen Zusammenhang darstellen. Darüber hinaus analysieren wir, warum es unwahrscheinlich ist, dass Selektionsprobleme aufgrund unbeobachtbarer Einflussfaktoren unsere Ergebnisse vollständig erklären können.

Background: SMEs represent 97% of Swedish companies that have an increase in the Swedish export by 16% in 2017. Furthermore, Sweden is eager to support its companies to lead the service revolution abroad. This expansion creates the need for overcoming international risks of inconstant psychic distance in terms of culture, economy and geography. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the psychic distance and its influence on internationalization. Method: The current study was based on qualitative research to fulfill the purpose, to answer its three research questions and to fit its time frame using semi-structured interviews of a multiple case study with Swedish SMEs within the service industry. The interviews took place with top managers who have broad knowledge and experiences related to this study. Conclusion: Psychic distance is changing in terms of culture, economy and geography as all SMEs have been exposed to its distances differently. A further outcome shows the relevance of business practices, theoretical methods, and models, although none of the interviewed SMEs have used any of these models. This result might show how those models could have solved various issues the interviewees faced. Cultural distance is a permanent distance that exists in all markets. However, economic distance constitutes a challenging factor to face economic costs and institutional differences but simultaneously gaining profits abroad could certify to meet this challenge. Geographic distance is mostly not considered an issue in the service industry. The psychic distance may decrease within the service industry due to international managerial skills and technology. Managerial Contribution: It is hoped that this study will assist SMEs to gain a clear idea about overcoming the psychic distance during internationalization, for instance, by learning from outcomes of the study from meta-analysis or by using relevant theories and models. / Bakgrund: Små och medelstora företag (SMF) representerar 97% av alla svenska företag. Den svenska exportsektorn har även sett en ökning med 16% under 2017. Sverige är dessutom väldigt angeläget om att stödja företagen genom att leda revolutionen inom servicesektorn utomlands. Denna expansion skapar behovet av att minimera de internationella riskerna associerade med psykiskt avstånd gällande kultur, ekonomi och geografi. Syfte: Syftet för denna studie är att undersöka det psykiska avståndet och dess påverkan på internationalisering. Metod: Denna studie använder sig av en kvalitativ metod för att uppfylla sitt syfte, svara på dess tre frågeställningarna och vara inom tidsramen för denna uppsats. En flerfalsstudie har genomförts genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med svenska SMF inom servicesektorn. Intervjuerna genomfördes med chefer som har breda kunskaper och erfarenheter relaterade till denna studie. Konklusion: Det psykiska avståndet gällande kultur, ekonomi och geografi förändras eftersom alla SMF har varit utsatta för dessa avstånden på olika sätt. Ett ytterligare resultat visar relevansen av affärsmetoder, teoretiska metoder och modeller, även om ingen av de intervjuade SMF har använt sig av dessa modeller. Resultatet visar hur dessa modeller kan ha löst olika problem som de intervjuade cheferna har stått inför. Det kulturella avståndet är ett permanent avstånd som existerar i alla marknader. Ekonomiskt avstånd däremot är en utmanade faktor eftersom man måste kombinera ekonomiska kostnader och institutionella skillnader, men genom att samtidigt göra vinst utomlands kan man överkomma denna utmaning. Geografiskt avstånd anses för det mesta inte som ett hinder inom servicesektorn. Det psykiska avståndet inom servicesektorn kan minskas med hjälp av internationella ledaregenskaper och teknologi. Praktiskt bidrag: Denna studie hoppas kunna hjälpa SMF med att få en tydlig uppfattning om hur man kan överkomma det psykiska avståndet under dess internationalisering, till exempel, genom att lära sig av resultaten från denna studiens metaanalys eller genom att använda sig av relevanta teorier och modeller.

In South Africa Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) have to contend with the typical adversarial relations with a host government. In addition, MNEs operate in an environment regulated by a government policy of Redress, aimed at changing the wealth profile of the country to reflect the ethnic demographics. Policies such as Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment, Affirmative Action and Preferential Procurement are interventionist and place additional burden on the MNEs. Implementations of these regulations are often the source of conflict between MNEs and the local government. Ethno-cultural distance aggravates the strained relations between the MNE and host government. The policy of Redress effectively legislates the incorporation of local third parties that are ethno-culturally related to government into the competitive strategies of MNEs. Joint ventures with locals are an acknowledged strategy to enter foreign markets, providing for legitimisation and access to networks. The choice in strategy when dealing with the home government of either a relational or transactional approach is transferable to the MNE host government environment. Political levels have proven to be inaccessible but successful business transactions with government are abundant. The transactional approach dominates as a result of the failure to establish any relations with the host government, negating the pursuit of the relational approach. Third parties play an enabling role in successful transactions, ranging from providing access to government employees up to securing the deal and transacting with the MNE at arms-length. The absence of any social capital in successful transactions requires re-evaluation of the role of social capital in bridging barriers in business relations. Possible explanations are in the linking that the social capital of the third party with the government and MNE employees respectively has, an extremely low threshold for social capital in successful transactions, the force exerted by the need for the products or services, or, most probable, the profit motive. The distance between the government and MNE is extreme as a result of the historical strife between the ethnic groups in the country and the policy of Redress. The connotation with the social environment deters the active pursuit of social capital to gain competitive advantage. / D.B.L.

Cross-border acquisitions (CBAs) have extensively been used by Multilatinas as a preferred entry mode in foreign markets, quickly providing access to resources, competencies and local intelligence without the burden of starting up a greenfield investment and bearing its associated risk to face the liability of foreignness. Using fixed-effects, generalized least square (FEGLS) regressions applied on a panel data sample of 602 CBA deals announced during the 1989-2011 period by 182 Multilatinas competing in 74 industries and headquartered in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela, the impact of cultural and psychic distances (as perceived by investors) on the performance of these CBA deals (measured by acquirers\' shareholders\' short term announcement returns) was evaluated. Key emerging conclusions are that: a) the national cultural distance composite index, based on Hofstede\'s four dimensions seems to better predict investors\' reaction to CBA announcements in comparison with the other \"psychic\" distance concepts, such as the administrative and geographical distances between home and host countries; b) investors\' perceptions regarding the cultural dissimilarities between these countries are factored in their response as an anticipation of the expected difficulties that acquiring firms\' will have during the post-merger integration process, as predicted by the several theoretical streams that focus on the role of culture in M&A; c) due to the positive and significant moderating effect of the uncertainty avoidance dimension, investors seem also to perceive that acquirers from home countries characterized by high uncertainty avoidance scores will be able to better handle the challenges that they will face in the post-merger integration stage, to the extent that these firms, as recognized in the cross-cultural research literature, have been associated with a preference for organizational rules and procedures that increase the chances of a successful completion of the merger or acquisition deal; d) although its role is recognized in the cross-cultural literature, power distance levels have no significant moderating effect on the cultural distance-M&A performance relationship. The models are robust to varying lengths of event windows and to alternative measurements of cultural distance, such as those based on the framework developed by the GLOBE project (House, Hanges, Javidan, Dorfman, & Gupta, 2004) and on the country cultural cluster maps proposed by Ronen and Shenkar (2013). Limitations of this study are pointed out and future research directions are suggested in order to advance our knowledge and understanding of the antecedents of the performance of the cross-border acquisitions made by Multilatinas. / Aquisições internacionais têm sido extensivamente usadas por Multilatinas como um modo preferencial de entrada em mercados estrangeiros, permitindo um rápido acesso a recursos, competências e inteligência locais, sem as desvantagens tipicamente associadas a investimentos greenfield e os riscos inerentes ao passivo de ser estrangeiro (liability of foreignness). Utilizando modelos de regressão de efeitos fixos e estimadores de mínimos quadrados generalizados, aplicados a uma amostra de dados em painel referentes a 602 aquisições internacionais anunciadas durante o período de 1989-2011 por 182 Multilatinas competindo em 74 setores econômicos e sediadas na Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Colômbia, México, Peru e Venezuela, foram avaliados os impactos das distâncias culturais e psíquicas (tais como percebidas pelos investidores) sobre o desempenho destas aquisições (medido pelos retornos de curto prazo aos acionistas das empresas adquirentes). Da análise dos resultados emergem as seguintes conclusões: a) a distância cultural calculada com base nas quatro dimensões de Hofstede parece melhor prever a reação dos investidores aos anúncios das aquisições internacionais, em comparação com os outros conceitos de distância \"psíquica\", tais como as distâncias administrativa e geográfica entre os países de origem hospedeiro; b) a percepção dos investidores em relação às diferenças culturais entre estes países são aparentemente levadas em consideração, como uma antecipação das esperadas dificuldades que empresas adquirentes enfrentarão durante o processo de integração das empresas adquiridas, tal como previsto pelas várias correntes teóricas que focam o papel da cultura em transações de fusões e aquisições; c) devido ao efeito moderador positivo e estatisticamente significante da dimensão relacionada à aversão à incerteza (uncertainty avoidance), os investidores também parecem perceber que adquirentes localizados em países caracterizadas pela elevada pontuação nesta dimensão serão capazes de melhor lidar com os desafios que enfrentarão na fase de integração pós-aquisição, na medida em que estas empresas, conforme reconhecido pela literatura empírica, têm sido associadas a uma preferência por regras e processos organizacionais que permitam aumentar as chances de uma bem sucedida aquisição; d) embora o seu papel seja reconhecido na literatura pertinente, a dimensão tolerância ao poder (power distance) não apresenta efeito moderador significante sobre a relação distância cultural e desempenho das aquisições. Os modelos são robustos para diferentes durações das janelas de eventos, bem como a conceitos alternativos de distância cultural, tais como as baseadas no modelo proposto pelo projeto GLOBE (House et al., 2004) e pelos mapas de classificação cultural dos países desenvolvidos por Ronen e Shenkar (2013). Limitações desta tese são apontadas e direções futuras de pesquisa são sugeridas no sentido de avançar nosso conhecimento e entendimento dos fatores que efetivamente afetam o desempenho das aquisições internacionais realizadas pelas Multilatinas.

La présente thèse explore l’impact des différences culturelles au travail sur l’intégration et la santé des travailleurs étrangers. Les différences culturelles sont évaluées selon le concept de distance culturelle entre les dimensions culturelles identifiées par Hofstede, l’intégration selon le concept d’acculturation, et la santé selon le concept de santé psychologique au travail. Les ressources personnelles des immigrants (proactivité, optimisme et résilience) sont également étudiées. La recherche a été effectuée dans deux centres d’appels d’une importante coopérative financière québécoise. L’échantillon se compose de 100 immigrants de première génération de Montréal. Les résultats de l’étude mettent en avant les impacts significatifs mais modérés des différences culturelles sur la santé psychologique au travail, sur le style d’acculturation adopté au travail et sur l’importance des ressources personnelles (résilience) pour l’acculturation et la santé psychologique des travailleurs étrangers. De fortes différences culturelles engendreraient davantage de bien-être psychologique au travail et influenceraient l’adoption d’un style d’acculturation intégratif. La résilience serait aussi une ressource personnelle non négligeable pour la santé de l’immigrant. Ces résultats soulignent par ailleurs le rôle particulier de la sphère du travail pour les travailleurs étrangers, la documentation scientifique appuyant l’idée que le monde du travail aurait un impact significatif sur leur santé psychologique. Les limites de la recherche, des suggestions d’amélioration ainsi que des pistes d’actions sont également proposées. / This thesis focuses on the impact of cultural differences on foreign workers’ integration and health. Cultural differences are assessed using the concept of cultural distance between Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, integration using the concept of acculturation, and health using the concept of psychological health at work. The immigrants’ personal resources (proactivity, optimism and resilience) are also considered. The study was conducted in two call centers of a major financial cooperative in Quebec. The sample consists of 100 first generation immigrants in Montreal. The study’s results highlight the significant but moderate impacts of cultural differences on both the psychological health and the acculturation style at work, as well as the significant impact of personal resources (resilience) on foreign workers’ acculturation and psychological health at work. Strong cultural differences would generate greater psychological well-being at work and would engender the adoption of integrative acculturation style. Resilience stands out as a key personal resource for an immigrant’s health. The results further underline the particular role of the work sphere for foreign workers, with scientific literature supporting the idea that the workplace would have a significant impact on their psychological health. In addition to the above, a list of research limitations, recommendations for improvement and paths of action have been suggested.

In today’s global business environment, multinational companies recognise that expatriate management is a major determinant of success in international business. Expatriates do not only face changes in the work environment but face a full range of cultural, personal and lifestyle changes that influence the success of an international assignment. This study investigates the relationship between cross-cultural training and expatriate adjustment. A quantitative longitudinal study was conducted within two phases to explore a European multinational companies cross-cultural training programme and its effects on expatriate adjustment in South Africa. Overseas experience, language proficiency, spousal adjustment, cultural distance and host country friendships were also explored as antecedents of adjustment. The empirical study included descriptive and inferential statistics. The results showed that there was no statistically significant relationship between cross-cultural training and expatriate adjustment. While previous overseas experience showed a significant positive influence on sociocultural adjustment, it had no significant effect on psychological well-being or culture shock. Cultural distance displayed a significant negative influence on sociocultural adjustment and psychological well-being / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. Com.

Cross-border acquisitions (CBAs) have extensively been used by Multilatinas as a preferred entry mode in foreign markets, quickly providing access to resources, competencies and local intelligence without the burden of starting up a greenfield investment and bearing its associated risk to face the liability of foreignness. Using fixed-effects, generalized least square (FEGLS) regressions applied on a panel data sample of 602 CBA deals announced during the 1989-2011 period by 182 Multilatinas competing in 74 industries and headquartered in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela, the impact of cultural and psychic distances (as perceived by investors) on the performance of these CBA deals (measured by acquirers\' shareholders\' short term announcement returns) was evaluated. Key emerging conclusions are that: a) the national cultural distance composite index, based on Hofstede\'s four dimensions seems to better predict investors\' reaction to CBA announcements in comparison with the other \"psychic\" distance concepts, such as the administrative and geographical distances between home and host countries; b) investors\' perceptions regarding the cultural dissimilarities between these countries are factored in their response as an anticipation of the expected difficulties that acquiring firms\' will have during the post-merger integration process, as predicted by the several theoretical streams that focus on the role of culture in M&A; c) due to the positive and significant moderating effect of the uncertainty avoidance dimension, investors seem also to perceive that acquirers from home countries characterized by high uncertainty avoidance scores will be able to better handle the challenges that they will face in the post-merger integration stage, to the extent that these firms, as recognized in the cross-cultural research literature, have been associated with a preference for organizational rules and procedures that increase the chances of a successful completion of the merger or acquisition deal; d) although its role is recognized in the cross-cultural literature, power distance levels have no significant moderating effect on the cultural distance-M&A performance relationship. The models are robust to varying lengths of event windows and to alternative measurements of cultural distance, such as those based on the framework developed by the GLOBE project (House, Hanges, Javidan, Dorfman, & Gupta, 2004) and on the country cultural cluster maps proposed by Ronen and Shenkar (2013). Limitations of this study are pointed out and future research directions are suggested in order to advance our knowledge and understanding of the antecedents of the performance of the cross-border acquisitions made by Multilatinas. / Aquisições internacionais têm sido extensivamente usadas por Multilatinas como um modo preferencial de entrada em mercados estrangeiros, permitindo um rápido acesso a recursos, competências e inteligência locais, sem as desvantagens tipicamente associadas a investimentos greenfield e os riscos inerentes ao passivo de ser estrangeiro (liability of foreignness). Utilizando modelos de regressão de efeitos fixos e estimadores de mínimos quadrados generalizados, aplicados a uma amostra de dados em painel referentes a 602 aquisições internacionais anunciadas durante o período de 1989-2011 por 182 Multilatinas competindo em 74 setores econômicos e sediadas na Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Colômbia, México, Peru e Venezuela, foram avaliados os impactos das distâncias culturais e psíquicas (tais como percebidas pelos investidores) sobre o desempenho destas aquisições (medido pelos retornos de curto prazo aos acionistas das empresas adquirentes). Da análise dos resultados emergem as seguintes conclusões: a) a distância cultural calculada com base nas quatro dimensões de Hofstede parece melhor prever a reação dos investidores aos anúncios das aquisições internacionais, em comparação com os outros conceitos de distância \"psíquica\", tais como as distâncias administrativa e geográfica entre os países de origem hospedeiro; b) a percepção dos investidores em relação às diferenças culturais entre estes países são aparentemente levadas em consideração, como uma antecipação das esperadas dificuldades que empresas adquirentes enfrentarão durante o processo de integração das empresas adquiridas, tal como previsto pelas várias correntes teóricas que focam o papel da cultura em transações de fusões e aquisições; c) devido ao efeito moderador positivo e estatisticamente significante da dimensão relacionada à aversão à incerteza (uncertainty avoidance), os investidores também parecem perceber que adquirentes localizados em países caracterizadas pela elevada pontuação nesta dimensão serão capazes de melhor lidar com os desafios que enfrentarão na fase de integração pós-aquisição, na medida em que estas empresas, conforme reconhecido pela literatura empírica, têm sido associadas a uma preferência por regras e processos organizacionais que permitam aumentar as chances de uma bem sucedida aquisição; d) embora o seu papel seja reconhecido na literatura pertinente, a dimensão tolerância ao poder (power distance) não apresenta efeito moderador significante sobre a relação distância cultural e desempenho das aquisições. Os modelos são robustos para diferentes durações das janelas de eventos, bem como a conceitos alternativos de distância cultural, tais como as baseadas no modelo proposto pelo projeto GLOBE (House et al., 2004) e pelos mapas de classificação cultural dos países desenvolvidos por Ronen e Shenkar (2013). Limitações desta tese são apontadas e direções futuras de pesquisa são sugeridas no sentido de avançar nosso conhecimento e entendimento dos fatores que efetivamente afetam o desempenho das aquisições internacionais realizadas pelas Multilatinas.

La présente thèse explore l’impact des différences culturelles au travail sur l’intégration et la santé des travailleurs étrangers. Les différences culturelles sont évaluées selon le concept de distance culturelle entre les dimensions culturelles identifiées par Hofstede, l’intégration selon le concept d’acculturation, et la santé selon le concept de santé psychologique au travail. Les ressources personnelles des immigrants (proactivité, optimisme et résilience) sont également étudiées. La recherche a été effectuée dans deux centres d’appels d’une importante coopérative financière québécoise. L’échantillon se compose de 100 immigrants de première génération de Montréal. Les résultats de l’étude mettent en avant les impacts significatifs mais modérés des différences culturelles sur la santé psychologique au travail, sur le style d’acculturation adopté au travail et sur l’importance des ressources personnelles (résilience) pour l’acculturation et la santé psychologique des travailleurs étrangers. De fortes différences culturelles engendreraient davantage de bien-être psychologique au travail et influenceraient l’adoption d’un style d’acculturation intégratif. La résilience serait aussi une ressource personnelle non négligeable pour la santé de l’immigrant. Ces résultats soulignent par ailleurs le rôle particulier de la sphère du travail pour les travailleurs étrangers, la documentation scientifique appuyant l’idée que le monde du travail aurait un impact significatif sur leur santé psychologique. Les limites de la recherche, des suggestions d’amélioration ainsi que des pistes d’actions sont également proposées. / This thesis focuses on the impact of cultural differences on foreign workers’ integration and health. Cultural differences are assessed using the concept of cultural distance between Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, integration using the concept of acculturation, and health using the concept of psychological health at work. The immigrants’ personal resources (proactivity, optimism and resilience) are also considered. The study was conducted in two call centers of a major financial cooperative in Quebec. The sample consists of 100 first generation immigrants in Montreal. The study’s results highlight the significant but moderate impacts of cultural differences on both the psychological health and the acculturation style at work, as well as the significant impact of personal resources (resilience) on foreign workers’ acculturation and psychological health at work. Strong cultural differences would generate greater psychological well-being at work and would engender the adoption of integrative acculturation style. Resilience stands out as a key personal resource for an immigrant’s health. The results further underline the particular role of the work sphere for foreign workers, with scientific literature supporting the idea that the workplace would have a significant impact on their psychological health. In addition to the above, a list of research limitations, recommendations for improvement and paths of action have been suggested.

Le aziende a controllo familiare sono considerate in molti Paesi la struttura proprietaria dominante, e la ricerca accademica si è progressivamente concentrata negli ultimi decenni sugli aspetti peculiari che differenziano le aziende familiari dalle altre strutture proprietarie. Nonostante questa convergenza, molti studi hanno sviluppato teorie contrastanti, in modo particolare sulla capacità delle aziende familiari di generare performance finanziarie superiori. Di converso, pochi studi hanno concentrato l’attenzione sulle scelte strategiche che posso spiegare il (maggiore o minore) differenziale di performance delle aziende familiari. Partendo dall’assunto che punti di forza e di debolezza possano coesistere nelle aziende familiari, identificare se siano gli uni o gli altri a prevalere è una sfida complessa se non si prendono in considerazione le scelte strategiche effettuate dalle aziende familiari. Partendo da questo gap nella letteratura, il presente lavoro cerca di misurare l’impatto che la proprietà familiare può avere sulle performance aziendali concentrandosi su tre aspetti principali della strategia d’impresa: il livello di conformità strategico alla media di settore (mediante la creazione di un indice che approssima le principali determinanti della business strategy), l’avvio di un processo di internazionalizzazione attraverso investimenti diretti esteri (IDE), e le implicazioni delle strategie di acquisizione. / The family business is widely considered the dominant property structure around the world and the research on this field has increased rapidly in the last decades to understand whether and in which aspects family firms differ from other organizations. Despite this convergence, the actual body of research on family firms is populated by conflicting theories and findings, especially on the relationship with financial performance. On the other hand, few studies focus their attention on which strategic choices may explain the financial differences between family firms and non-family peers. Starting from this research gap, we think that both positive and negative aspects may coexist in family firms, and it would be difficult to identify which predominate without considering how family principals frame strategic decisions. In our thesis, we try to disentangle the effect of family ownership on firm performance focusing on three main aspects of firm strategy: the level of strategic conformity through the creation of a composite index (in which we incorporated six items that can be considered as key determinants of the business strategy), the departure of the internationalization process through foreign direct investments (FDI), and the implications of acquisition strategies.