Exploring the Relationships Between Innovation and Internationalisation of Family Firm across Europe

The Workshop is intended to provide an umbrella for gathering scholars on the specific topic of innovation and internationalization in family firms.

Location

Palazzo di Economia, via Inama 5 - Trento

Chairs

• Mariasole Bannò (mariasole.banno [at] unibs.it (email), University of Brescia, Italy)
• Giorgia M. D’Allura (gdallura [at] unict.it (email), University of Catania, Italy)
• Rosario Faraci (faraci [at] unict.it (email), University of Catania, Italy)
• Sandro Trento (sandro.trento [at] unitn.it (email), University of Trento, Italy)

Keynotes Speakers

Prof. Alfredo De Massis, Ph.D
Full Professor of Entrepreneurship, Family Business and Strategic Management
Faculty of Economics & Management, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano (Italy)

Prof. Luis R. Gomez-Mejia, Ph.D
Full Professor of Management and Entrepreneurship
Arizona State University (USA)

Topical Focus

There is a strong imperative for firms to innovate (i.e. to renew their product structure, technology and organizational practices) as well as, to internationalize. Arguably, innovation and internationalization are the main engines and sources of sustainable and stable growth over the long term. Innovation virtuously impacts on the degree of international growth, which in turn positively influences innovation activities and then firms’ performance. A circular relationship between the two phenomena seems to exist. Of course family firm innovation and internationalisation have attracted increasing scholarly attention over the last years, reflected in a growing number of journal articles and conference papers as well as special issues dedicated to these two topics. However, to the best of our knowledge, the investigation of the circular relationship between the two strategic choices has not been undertaken for family firms and should permit us to answer two main questions: the eventual complementarities between innovation and internationalization and the role of family firms in both the strategic choice. 
With this topic for the Workshop, we target the in-depth discussion of original research papers focusing on different conceptual and empirical approaches to assessing the innovation and internationalization relationship of family firms from various theoretical perspectives.
Furthermore, we welcome multi-disciplinary approaches to further develop the research field.
This Workshop focuses not only on empirical findings on family firm innovation and internationalisation and theoretical reasons thereof, but also wants to give researchers the possibility to exchange new ideas and build academic alliances.

Workshop Format

We target a number of 10-15 research papers or extended abstract as well as a series of poster presentations, in which the workshop topic is explicitly and clearly addressed. We warmly welcome co-authors as participants of this workshop. Further, we welcome requests from attendees in general.
Selected submissions will be presented by their authors as original studies or elaborated works in progress to the workshop group. After each presentation, two discussants, who have read the paper in advance, will give feedback. Finally, the respective papers are discussed in plenum by all workshop attendees. This workshop will allow for the in-depth discussion of the work of participants and promisingly leads to synergies with colleagues working in a closely related field of research.
Additionally, we are pleased to welcome workshop facilitators, who hold introduction speeches to the workshop topic and attend the paper sessions to give feedback, as well as family business owners who will provide workshop participants interesting insights into the innovation and internationalisation entrepreneurship models of their companies. 

Registration and Submission

• Submissions and registration: online application link
• The registration fee for the Workshop is 100€.
• Papers for submission must be sent via email to: gdallura [at] unict.it (Giorgia Maria D’Allura) or mariasole.banno [at] unibs.it (Mariasole Bannò) 
• The online submission deadline for poster, extended abstracts or papers, is March 10, 2018.
• Acceptance notifications will be communicated on April 10, 2018, at the latest.
• Types of submissions include:
  • full papers (30 pages maximum, double-spaced, Times New Roman 12pt),
  • extended abstract of at least 5 pages,
  • poster.
• A nominee for the best paper and for the best poster will be appointed from the Workshop.

Any questions should be addressed to gdallura [at] unict.it (Giorgia Maria D’Allura) or mariasole.banno [at] unibs.it (Mariasole Bannò) 

Synthetic Scientific Program

Scientific Committee

	Celeste Amorim Varum, Portugal Department of Economics, Management, Industrial Engineering and Tourism., University of Aveiro.
	Mariasole Bannò, Italy ​Department of Industrial and Mechanical Engineer, University of Brescia.
	Andrea Calabrò, France IPAG Business School, Nice Campus.
	Giorgia M. D’Allura, Italy Department of Economics and Business, University of Catania.
	Rosario Faraci, Italy Department of Economics and Business, University of Catania.
	Josip Kotlar, United Kingdom Department of Entrepreneurship, Strategy and Innovation, Lancaster University Management School.
	Lucia Naldi, Sweden Centre for Family Enterprise and Ownership, Jönköping International Business School.
	Salvatore Sciascia, Italy Department of Business, Law, Economics, and Consumer Behaviour, IULM University – Milan
	Sandro Trento, Italy Department of Economics and Management, University of Trento.
	Anita Van Gils, Netherlands Windesheim University of Applied Science & Department of Organization and Strategy, Maastricht University.