A rational normative model of international expansion: Strategic intent perspective, market positions, and founder CEOs/family-successor CEOs

Ever since Hamel and Prahalad propose the importance of the strategic intent perspective, understanding the relationship between entrepreneurial ambitions and an international expansion strategy becomes a key issue in the fields of international business and strategic management. However, most previous studies focus on the strategic behaviors of the CEOs of large public firms. This study incorporates upper echelons theory and entrepreneurship research to build up a rational normative framework of strategic intent perspective, market leader/follower positions, and founder CEOs/family-successor CEOs for the international expansion strategy of small- and medium-sized enterprises and family firms. By applying an experimental design method, the results show that the rational analyses of the strategic intent perspective and market positions affect a firm's international expansion strategy. However, different generations of CEOs might have different perspectives on international expansion in a specific industry. These findings broaden entrepreneurship and the upper echelons theory's explanations of international expansion decision-making.