Moroccan Family Businesses: Specific Attributes, Logics of Action and Organizational Learning Dynamics

Author(s):  
Sara Bentebbaa
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 7091
Author(s):  
Ana Paula Fonseca ◽  
Sandro Carnicelli

The triple bottom line of sustainability has been the foundation to assess the overall performance of organizations in the hospitality sector. Family businesses are operating in a very competitive environment, and their practices are heavily scrutinised by stakeholders. This paper considers the value of action research in the field of family businesses in the hospitality sector through the prism of organizational learning. The focus of the research is to understand how a Scottish family business learns and implements corporate social responsibility and sustainability practices and how they embed the practices in their activities in a bed and breakfast. The family business used in this research is based in Paisley, Scotland. The use of action research enabled this research to follow a recurring spiral learning process of diagnosing, planning, acting, and evaluating to achieve organizational learning. The action learning contributed to re-thinking the communication between actors involved in the Scottish hospitality sector and family businesses to open a dialogue and produce norms and to contribute to knowledge about a new small-business social responsibility orbital framework.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (8) ◽  
pp. 101
Author(s):  
Hiba Birgach ◽  
Taib Berrada El Azizi ◽  
Badr Habba

Purpose - Despite the importance attached to the governance of family businesses, few studies have focused on the importance of family business governance in the Moroccan context. This article provides some specificities of family firms and an overview of main governance mechanisms identified in the literature while presenting the main contributions of agency and stewardship theories. We introduce a governance approach centered on the issue of strengthening family ties and increasing the commitment of family members to the firm. The purpose of this paper is to identify the governance mechanisms adopted by CEOs of Moroccan family businesses of the second generation. Method - the authors used a qualitative method, using face to face semi-structured interviews among ten CEOs of family businesses in Morocco. Through the analysis of verbatim responses of Moroccan CEOs, we were able to identify some of the governance mechanisms they adopt to ensure a certain continuity of their business. Findings-The results suggest that most of the Moroccan managers opt for an informal and unwritten system of governance. According to them, the important thing is to share values and vision while maintaining communication. Even family meetings remain informal, the crucial thing is to preserve family solidarity, as far as the system of governance is known by all the members. We have identified three informal governance mechanisms, family meetings, task management, and sharing a family vision. The results have also shown some of the sources of conflicts among family members. Practical implications – This paper helps to raise awareness among Moroccan leaders on the importance of governance. Whether formal or informal, it is essential to have common rules shared by family members, which will enable the firm to last over time. Originality - This paper contributes to research on family businesses by exploring a different context especially in terms of culture and country values. Our paper has the originality to focus on a specific area of investigation, namely the Moroccan context, where the management model of family businesses is different from anterior contributions.


1994 ◽  
Vol 01 (03n04) ◽  
pp. 367-382 ◽  
Author(s):  
PHILLIP H PHAN ◽  
JOHN E BUTLER ◽  
SOO HOON LEE

The organizational learning dynamics inherent in the franchise relationship provide the primary focus for this research. By encoding knowledge of the skills needed to suceed within the contractual arrangement, the franchisor can short cut the learning process for the franchisee. Once the franchising arrangement is established, both franchisees and franchisors have vested interest in maintaining high levels of organizational learning. In this research a model is presented that incorporates these learning dynamics, and relates them to entrepreneurial returns. Using a sample of heavy-duty truck franchisees, the relationship between different types of organizational learning and performance are explored. The results indicate that the franchising contract may actually act to limit the returns to the franchise relationship. Instead, it may encourage the franchisee to direct their learning efforts to skew returns in their favor. Successful franchisees were found to systematically value the franchise contractual and non-contractual information content more than less successful franchisees.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 130
Author(s):  
Azzeddine Allioui ◽  
Badr Habba ◽  
Taib Berrada El Azizi

The purpose of this research aims to study the relationship between the cultural specificities of the Moroccan context and the success or failure of succession strategies (in terms of planning and process) in the case of Moroccan unlisted family businesses. Our study covered a sample of 20 unlisted Moroccan family businesses, 8 of which are SMEs, 6 are large firms, and 6 are VSEs, through a qualitative research based on semi-structured interviews with the managers of family businesses. Our results explain the influence of Moroccan cultural specificities on the success or failure of the transfer of family businesses. Indeed, these influences essentially manifest themselves in three antecedents: the succession planning that already reflects the intention to pass on the family business to the next generations, either by having a well-prepared plan, or an absence of a succession plan that leaves things to chance; the succession process that is influenced in part by specificities of Moroccan culture by granting privilege to the eldest male in the succession, and in another part this process becomes more rational by giving credit to successors competent to take over the family business in the case of large family businesses; and cultural constraints that are manifested mainly by the taboos surrounding the death of the predecessor and religious principles that similarly explain the different configurations of success or failure of the succession strategy of the family business. An extension of this work could be a multi-factor analysis in future researches.


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