Family businesses, in the process of internationalization, beyond the consideration of the economic aspects of international expansion, may take into account non-economic factors and goals aimed at benefiting the family. These non-economic aspects are referred to as socioemotional wealth (SEW). The main question raised in this dissertation is: how does SEW impact the internationalization in family firms? The SEW construct has been considered in previous theoretical and empirical research but, to date, an instrument allowing direct measurement of this phenomenon has not be developed. Therefore, part of this dissertation is dedicated to the development of a measurement instrument allowing for the direct assessment of SEW in terms of its importance to the family firm decision-maker. The scale development procedure is described and the final version of the developed three-dimensional SEW Importance scale is presented. Further, this dissertation includes the development and statistical testing of the model of the impact of SEW on the extent of family firm internationalization, as well as the moderating effect of environmental munificence on the above relationship. This is followed by the discussion of the results, limitations of the study, its contributions and the implications for future research and family firm practice. The aim of this dissertation is to develop a valid and reliable instrument for measuring the importance of SEW in family firms, as well as to further the understanding of the impact that SEW may have on internationalization decisions in family enterprises.

Normative theory holds that strategy should favorably align an organization with its environment. The primary purpose of this study was to provide a test of the contingency effect that environmental munificence may have on the relationship between strategic posture and performance at the level of the business unit. Following the suggestions of Venkatraman (1989) and others (cf. Van de Ven and Drazin, 1985) due consideration was given to developing a precise theoretical position and adopting an appropriate form of fit. In so doing, a secondary purpose was to enhance construct validity and to effect triangulation among measures. This study adopted the independent restaurant establishment as the unit of analysis. A nation-wide sample of 311 independent restaurateurs representing a response rate of 20.7% responded to a mail-out survey. Multi-item scales and multiple methods (representing within-method triangulation) were adopted to measure the primary constructs of strategic posture, munificence, and performance. Moderated regression analysis was used to assess the independent effects as well as the contingency relationships or interaction between the predictor (strategic posture) and the moderator (environmental munificence). The results suggest that both strategic posture and environmental munificence are significant independent predictors of performance. The moderating role of environmental munificence on the effect of strategic posture on performance was not established. However, the independent and additive effects of both strategic posture and environmental munificence were significant. Given the consistency of the results across different operationalizations, these results may be interpreted as being robust. Specifically, in tenus of strategic posture, competitive aggressiveness and a propensity towards risk-loving policies tended to have a negative effect on performance while quality service, as might be expected, tended to have a positive impact on performance. With respect to munificence, growth oriented environments were much better predictors of performance. Taken together, munificence explains a greater proportion of the variance in performance than does strategic posture. Given the nature of the restaurant industry, and the evidence suggesting that environment may be the primary determinant of performance, success for independent restaurateurs may perhaps be more serendipitous than strategic. / Ph. D.

Strategic decision makers typically use a wide range of communication and information media in complex, uncertain and often ambiguous or politically charged organizational contexts. However, little help is available in ensuring that their information behaviour is efficient and effective. This study evaluates the use of information systems (IS) as communication media in strategic decision-making processes (SDMPs), focusing on strategic information processing, and how context affects its performance. The analysed strategic decisions (n = 113) were taken in the time period between 2000 and 2008 in large Western organisations. The aim of this investigation was to look at the link between the use of IS during the decision-making process and the performance of the SDMP, taking into account internal and external contextual factors. Using existing information processing theory and research on the SDMP as a theoretical basis, hypotheses were developed and environmental contingencies and political information behaviour were selected as moderating effects on the relationship of IS use and the performance of strategic decisions. A survey and complementary semi-structured interviews were conducted, which studied particular strategic decisions through quantitative and qualitative methods. Results provide support for a number of the study's hypotheses; however, several interesting findings regarding contextual factors, such as information anarchy and environmental munificence/hostility, do not support the hypotheses. Implications for theory and practice concerning information behaviour and its context are discussed.

Strategic decision makers typically use a wide range of communication and information media in complex, uncertain and often ambiguous or politically charged organizational contexts. However, little help is available in ensuring that their information behaviour is efficient and effective. This study evaluates the use of information systems (IS) as communication media in strategic decision-making processes (SDMPs), focusing on strategic information processing, and how context affects its performance. The analysed strategic decisions (n = 113) were taken in the time period between 2000 and 2008 in large Western organisations. The aim of this investigation was to look at the link between the use of IS during the decision-making process and the performance of the SDMP, taking into account internal and external contextual factors. Using existing information processing theory and research on the SDMP as a theoretical basis, hypotheses were developed and environmental contingencies and political information behaviour were selected as moderating effects on the relationship of IS use and the performance of strategic decisions. A survey and complementary semi-structured interviews were conducted, which studied particular strategic decisions through quantitative and qualitative methods. Results provide support for a number of the study¿s hypotheses; however, several interesting findings regarding contextual factors, such as information anarchy and environmental munificence/hostility, do not support the hypotheses. Implications for theory and practice concerning information behaviour and its context are discussed.

This study provides a better understanding of the interactions between firm resources, strategy choice, marketing environment, and performance in rural SMEs. To date, a strategy framework specifically for SMEs in developing countries had not been developed. Past studies adapted the Miles and Snow (1987) strategy typologies or have developed strategy types for SMEs in developing countries only conceptually. This study extended the modelling approach adopted by DeSarbo et al., (2005, 2006) by empirically deriving a strategy typology specifically for SMEs in a developing country. Based on K-means clustering of theoretically relevant strategy dimensions, two strategy clusters were identified??lower performing conservative strategy A, and higher performing customer oriented strategy B. The issue of resource limitations in strategy formulation had not been adequately addressed by past studies on SME strategy. By examining how and to what extent objective and perceived dimensions of the external environment impact the resources-strategy-performance (RSP) links in rural SMEs, the study tested the applicability of the Resource-Based View (RBV) and the Knowledge-Based View (KBV) in a new context??that of rural SMEs in a developing country. Both RBV and KBV were supported by the findings. Key strategic resources in rural SMEs were explored for its strategic and performance implications. General resources and capabilities, knowledge-based resources, and in particular ??tacit?? marketing knowledge, were examined in an aggregated sense through the intuitive understanding within the one SME owner-manager. Strategy choice moderated and mediated the resource-performance relationship. SMEs with higher levels of resources and capabilities tended to adopt the higher performing strategy B. The study provided further insights on the kinds of knowledge that mattered. Knowledge-based resources that were more tacit in character determined strategy choice and performance??higher customer serving skills led to adopting the higher performing strategy B, while planning skills led to adopting the lower performing strategy A. Both the objective and perceived environments influenced SME performance by moderating the resource-strategy-performance relationship. SMEs located in more munificent provinces perceived their market environment accurately, possessed higher knowledge-based resources, and were more likely to adopt the higher performing strategy B.

Le 11 décembre 1481, le roi Louis XI rattachait le comté de Provence souverain au royaume de France. Cela ne s’accomplit pas sans que les grands sanctuaires provençaux reçoivent de sa part des offrandes importantes, tels la chapelle de la Sainte-Baume, le chef-reliquaire d’or de Sainte-Marthe de Tarascon, et, dans une certaine mesure, le tombeau du dernier comte Charles III de Provence dans la cathédrale Saint-Sauveur d’Aix. Mais sa munificence religieuse de quatre décennies en Provence, connut bien d’autres développements (fondations, rentes, privilèges). Cette étude originale est un essai de synchronisation d’une ambitieuse politique de munificence avec son contexte de marche à l’annexion. Pour une vision d’ensemble, la zone étudiée s’élargit aux petits États périphériques du comté de Provence, Avignon et le Comtat Venaissin, la principauté d’Orange, le comté de Nice, la seigneurie de Monaco et le Bas-Dauphiné. Dans ce dernier, à la cathédrale Notre-Dame d’Embrun, au contact du Gapençais provençal, Louis XI a vraisemblablement offert de somptueuses grandes orgues dont plusieurs éléments sont encore visibles. La présence physique du dauphin Louis, puis la forte présence politique du roi Louis XI dans cette « aire provençale », sont révélatrices du grand intérêt que suscite le Midi de la part du royaume de France, selon une tradition remontant aux Capétiens. Les modalités et la croissance de cette convoitise chez Louis XI, ses implications économique et sociale, ses manifestations plastiques, les véhicules de l’idéologie monarchique tels que l’esthétique flamboyante, mais aussi la rivalité inévitable avec l’influent comte René d’Anjou, tiennent ici lieu de problématiques. / On december 11th 1481, the king of France Louis XI achieved the incorporation of sovereign Provence into the kingdom of France. This did not happen without the greatest provençal sanctuaries receiving from him important offerings like the Sainte-Baume chapel, the Sainte-Marthe of Tarascon gold head reliquary, and the last earl Charles III of Provence tomb in the Saint-Sauveur cathedral of Aix. Actually, his four decades religious munificence in Provence spread out with various forms (foundations, annuities, privileges). This original study is an attempt to synchronize an ambitious policy of munificence with its context of an annexation in progress. For a general sight of the situation, the geographical area of the study is extended to the small provençal states surrounding the earldom of Provence, it is to say Avignon and the Comtat Venaissin, the principality of Orange, the earldom of Nice, the lordship of Monaco and the southern Dauphiné. There, in the Notre-Dame cathedral of Embrun, in close contact with the provençal earldom of Gap, Louis XI appears as the donator of the flamboyant organ, still visible in parts. The physical presence of the dauphin Louis, then the strong political presence of king Louis XI, in this “provençal area” reveal the great interest of French kingdom for the south, following an ancient tradition started by the capetian kings. The details and the growth of Louis XI’s covetousness, its economical and social implications, its artistic demonstrations, the medium of the monarchic ideology, as the flamboyant gothic esthetics, but the unavoidable rivalry with the influential earl René d’Anjou as well, are the main issues investigated here.