Abstract Experiencing more than 30 years’ development, Chinese family firms are faced with both internal succession and global competition challenges. Based on stewardship theory，social identity theory and resources dependent view, this study investigates 660 family firms, listed on Shanghai-shenzhen exchange markets in China from 2003-2013, to study the relationship of family internal succession, external resources dependent and internationalization. The empirical results reveal that: When family member takes the CEO, the relationship between ownership succession and internationalization exhibits U-shape; next generation can exert more positive impact on internationalization when they involve in top management team; external board membership is the main mechanism that family firms acquire resources for internalization, especially when family involvement in board is low.
2016, Vol. 13 
