ABSTRACT
Large Chinese family businesses do not follow the Uppsala model at all, 1 but overcome ownership disadvantages by acquiring global knowledge. This chapter presents evidence to support this claim, representing a critique of the ownership, location, internalization (OLI) and Uppsala models about firms’ internationalization. It will show that Chinese families use “social and political capital” (real estate, public banks, stock markets, connections to the Communist Party and provincial governments) to overcome their lack of knowledge and resources. The chapter also indicates that resource-view perspectives on the internationalization of firms (examining an individual, isolated firm) may fall short as these Chinese family firms and groups can rely on public institutions (development policies, Communist Party networks, “business angels”). The family’s crucial role in the largest Chinese family businesses analyzed here is for the family heir to either go abroad for experience or occupy critical external roles in China.
