Italian Medium-Sized Family Businesses and Their International Market Entry Strategies

Medium-sized businesses have always been considered as a part of the SME group — small and medium-sized businesses — and not as a separate category of firms. However, nowadays this type of business becomes one of the most important factors of economic growth and stability and performs a number of fundamental economic and social functions. Moreover, it plays a significant role in the export of countries, becoming more internationalised every year. That is why there is a need for a separate analysis of this sector with a clear separation of its activities from both small and large enterprises. When considering medium-sized businesses, it is also necessary to take into account the fact that almost every medium-sized company is family-owned. Today it is increasingly difficult for such firms to remain within their original organisational structure because of the pressure of various factors, mainly related to globalisation. In order to successfully overcome these obstacles and continue to evolve, the family business needs to find a solution to the main problems and trends that it faces. Italy stands out among all the countries that are especially dependent on the family business. Historically the economy of this country is very fragmented, which is the reason of its SME sector rapid development. However, the so-called Italian "family" capitalism, which had great success in the post-war decades, is going through rough economic difficulties in post-industrial society. On the example of Italian medium-sized companies it becomes possible to define the future possible development and internationalisation strategies of this type of firms, what was done in this research.