Family firms' resources and the timing of the export development process

The goal of this work is to analyze whether certain resources related to human, social and financial capital influence the speed of the export development process of family firms. We use event history analysis applied to a sample of Spanish manufacturing family firms. The results show that only the variables related to social capital have a significant effect on the timing of this process. Concretely, the relationships with foreign suppliers, the agreements with retailers and wholesalers and the development of technological collaborations are related to and early entry of family firms into the initial phase of the export development process. Moreover, the alliances with retailers and wholesalers have also a significant accelerating effect in the entry into the advanced phase of the process.