SME Export Performance: Does Ownership Matter?

The goals of this study are to analyze: 1. the export performance of family vs. non-family firms, and 2. whether the same firm, management, and export strategy related variables have influenced similarly on export performance both in family and non-family firms. The empirical part is based on a survey study conducted among Finnish SMEs. The performance was analyzed using four different types of performance measures. As expected the results indicated that non-family owned firms had performed better than family owned firms. Especially international orientation, firm size, and product/service quality had influenced positively export performance both in family and non-family firms.