scholarly journals Unbundling Strategic Change in Family Firms: the Influence of Familiness on the Strategic Change Process

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moritz Belling ◽  
Ulrich Pidun ◽  
Dodo zu Knyphausen-Aufseß
Keyword(s):  
Change Process ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Strategic Change ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Family Firm ◽  
Change Implementation ◽  
Gradual Change ◽  
The Family

AbstractThe viability and adaptation of family firms is a key research area owing to the longevity and transgenerational vision of the family. Throughout their development, firms transition through strategic change episodes with a potentially significant impact on their performance and survival. In this article, we combine family firm with strategic change research to propose how familiness supports or limits strategic change. We put forward three tendencies of family firms in their ability to deal with strategic change. First, familiness creates an overemphasis on the cognition of gradual change triggers but limits the cognition of radical change triggers. Second, familiness creates a tendency to inappropriately scope and dimension strategic change in radical change episodes to protect the value of legacy resources. Third, familiness supports endurance during strategic change implementation while also creating a tendency to be too slow or stubborn when implementing an insufficient change decision.

scholarly journals UNDERSTANDING ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE IN A SMALL FAMILY FIRM

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 153
Author(s):  
Gustavo José Da Nóbrega Danda ◽  
Denize Grzybovski
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Culture ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
Family Firm ◽  
Business Culture ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Entrepreneurial Process ◽  
The Family

The purpose of this study is to investigate the characteristics of organizational culture that fosters entrepreneurship in family firms. The entrepreneurial process is viewed as radical change in family firms due to emotions related to change in this kind of organization, which are more intense than nonfamily firms and makes the organization behaves the same way of previous generation. The culture of family firm Alfa is analyzed through the model of Hall, Melin and Nordqvist (2001) which classifies family business culture according to the fact that it is dominated by one or several family members, the degree of culture explicitness and cultural openness. A single case study was conducted and semi-structured interviews were made with family and non-family members of the family firm Alfa. It was concluded that, despite the fact the employees feel comfortable to express their ideas and critics, the values and norms are not clearly stated and the culture is dominated by the influence of the founder. These last two characteristics damage the entrepreneurial process in the family firm analyzed. 

“We are a family firm”

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Binz Astrachan ◽  
Isabel C. Botero
Keyword(s):  
Family Business ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Family Firm ◽  
Business Owners ◽  
Public Companies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Brand Building ◽  
Depth Interview ◽  
The Family ◽  
Family Associations

Purpose Evidence suggests that some stakeholders perceive family firms as more trustworthy, responsible, and customer-oriented than public companies. To capitalize on these positive perceptions, owning families can use references about their family nature in their organizational branding and marketing efforts. However, not all family firms actively communicate their family business brand. With this in mind, the purpose of this paper is to investigate why family firms decide to promote their “family business brand” in their communication efforts toward different stakeholders. Design/methodology/approach Data for this study were collected using an in-depth interview approach from 11 Swiss and German family business owners. Interviews were transcribed and coded to identify different themes that help explain the different motives and constraints that drive their decisions to promote the “family business brand.” Findings The analyses indicate that promoting family associations in branding efforts is driven by both identity-related (i.e. pride, identification) and outcome-related (e.g. reputational advantages) motives. However, there are several constraints that may negatively affect the promotion of the family business brand in corporate communication efforts. Originality/value This paper is one of the first to explore why family businesses decide to communicate their “family business brand.” Building on the findings, the authors present a conceptual framework identifying the antecedents and possible consequences of promoting a family firm brand. This framework can help researchers and practitioners better understand how the family business nature of the brand can influence decisions about the company’s branding and marketing practices.

Unveiling contemporary dimensions in the internationalisation of family firms through bibliometric analysis and thematic analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonal Thukral ◽  
Apoorva Jain
Keyword(s):  
Bibliometric Analysis ◽  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Research Articles ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Holistic Understanding ◽  
The Family ◽  
Research Stream

Purpose For sustaining a competitive advantage in the integrated world economy, it has become imperative for family firms to internationalise their operations in overseas markets. However, despite the growing set of literature, results are still inconclusive with respect to family firms’ internationalisation. Thus, this study aims to address this gap by systematically reviewing 142 articles (1991–2019) to help researchers in identifying and unfolding the unexplored themes in the underlying area. Design/methodology/approach For systematically reviewing articles, the study uses a three-step methodology following PRISMA guidelines, bibliometric analysis and thematic analysis. Descriptive statistics of 142 research articles are obtained through bibliometric analysis while thematic analysis is carried out to create themes or clusters of various factors relating to family firms’ internationalisation. Findings The current review uncovers the evolving trends in the research streams, most productive authors, top journals and articles, co-citation analysis, as well as the major themes surrounding the family firms’ internationalisation literature. Results from bibliometric analysis indicate that family firms’ internationalisation is an upcoming research area. Also, the review indicates an opportunity for scholars from developing nations to make significant contributions in the underlying research stream. Research limitations/implications Results from bibliometric and thematic analysis will help academicians and researchers in accumulating a holistic understanding relating to family firms’ internationalisation and understanding the upcoming trends in family firms’ research, thereby guiding the future research scope. Also, it will assist the family firms’ leaders and managers in understanding the important dynamics in overseas markets and various factors to be considered while planning their internationalisation. Originality/value Undertaking a systematic literature review presents readers with a state-of-the-art understanding of the underlying research topic. To the best of the knowledge, to date, the study is the first to conduct the review of literature through bibliometric analysis with the help of R Studio software in the field of family firms’ internationalisation. Also, the study is the first to review more than 100 research articles in the underlying area. Finally, the study proposes a comprehensive framework integrating the major themes and facets relating to family firms’ internationalisation.

Does family involvement matter post IPO? Adding value through advertising in family firms

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 218-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Atanas Nik Nikolov ◽  
Yuan Wen
Keyword(s):  
Firm Performance ◽  
Family Involvement ◽  
Family Business ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Family Firm ◽  
Family Businesses ◽  
Publicly Traded ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Family

PurposeThis paper brings together research on advertising, family business, and the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm to examine performance differences between publicly traded US family vs non-family firms. The purpose of this paper is to understand the heterogeneity of family vs non-family firm advertising after such firms become publicly traded.Design/methodology/approachThe authors draw on the RBV of the firm, as well as on extensive empirical literature in family business and advertising research to empirically examine the differences between family and non-family firms in terms of performance.FindingsUsing panel data from over 2,000 companies across ten years, this research demonstrates that family businesses have higher advertising intensity than competitors, and achieve higher performance returns on their advertising investments, relative to non-family competitors. The results suggest that the “familiness” of public family firms is an intangible resource that, when combined with their advertising investments, affords family businesses a relative advantage compared to non-family businesses.Research limitations/implicationsFamily involvement in publicly traded firms may contribute toward a richer resource endowment and result in creating synergistic effects between firm “familiness” and the public status of the firm. The paper contributes toward the RBV of the firm and the advertising literature. Limitations include the lack of qualitative data to ground the findings and potential moderating effects.Practical implicationsUnderstanding how family firms’ advertising spending influences their consequent performance provides new information to family firms’ owners and management, as well as investors. The authors suggest that the “familiness” of public family firms may provide a significant advantage over their non-family-owned competitors.Social implicationsThe implications for society include that the family firm as an organizational form does not need to be relegated to a second-class citizen status in the business world: indeed, combining family firms’ characteristics within a publicly traded platform may provide firm performance benefits which benefit the founding family and other stakeholders.Originality/valueThis study contributes by highlighting the important influence of family involvement on advertising investment in the public family firm, a topic which has received limited attention. Second, it also integrates public ownership in family firms with the family involvement–advertising–firm performance relationship. As such, it uncovers a new pathway through which the family effect is leveraged to increase firm performance. Third, this study also contributes to the advertising and resource building literatures by identifying advertising as an additional resource which magnifies the impact of the bundle of resources available to the public family firm. Fourth, the use of an extensive panel data set allows for a more complex empirical investigation of the inherently dynamic relationships in the data and thus provides a contribution to the empirical stream of research in family business.

Research on Women in Family Firms

2009 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rocio Martinez Jimenez
Keyword(s):  
Family Firms ◽  
Family Firm ◽  
Current Work ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Leadership Positions ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
The Family ◽  
Research Questions

Based on a review of 48 articles and other research works published since 1985, the current work examines both obstacles to and positive aspects of women's involvement in family firms. The most important findings of this work concern the important role that wives play for the continuity and growth of the family firm and the factors that can help or hinder daughters to progress professionally and achieve leadership positions in this type of firm. Research questions and methods and implications for future research and practice are also presented.

Strategic Change in Family Firms: The Influence of Familiness on the Strategic Change Process

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (1) ◽  
pp. 13068
Author(s):  
Moritz Belling ◽  
Ulrich Pidun ◽  
Dodo Zu Knyphausen-Aufsess
Keyword(s):  
Change Process ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Strategic Change

Must Love Kill the Family Firm? Some Exploratory Evidence

2011 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 1121-1148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vikas Mehrotra ◽  
Randall Morck ◽  
Jungwook Shim ◽  
Yupana Wiwattanakantang
Keyword(s):  
Family Firms ◽  
Mean Reversion ◽  
Family Firm ◽  
Arranged Marriage ◽  
Arranged Marriages ◽  
The Family

Family firms depend on a succession of capable heirs to stay afloat. If talent and IQ are inherited, this problem is mitigated. If, however, progeny talent and IQ display mean reversion (or worse), family firms are eventually doomed. Since family firms persist, solutions to this succession problem must exist. We submit that marriage can transfuse outside talent and reinvigorate family firms. This implies that changes to the institution of marriage—notably, a decline in arranged marriages in favor of marriages for “love”—bode ill for the survival of family firms. Consistent with this, the predominance of family firms correlates strongly across countries with plausible proxies for arranged marriage norms.

The auditor as consigliere in family firm

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sven-Olof Yrjö Collin ◽  
Jenny Ahlberg ◽  
Karin Berg ◽  
Pernilla Broberg ◽  
Amelie Karlsson
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Response Rate ◽  
Family Firm ◽  
Social Implications ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Family ◽  
Professional Independence ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop and test a concept of auditor as consigliere in family firms, that captures additional functions to monitoring, those of advice, mediating, and conveying. Design/methodology/approach The concept is tested through a survey conducted on 309 Swedish auditors. Findings The data indicate that the consigliere role is generally not emphasized, indicating that auditors primarily perform the monitoring role of the audit. However, the authors do find indications of the auditor performing the consigliere role, through performing the advisory and mediating functions and, to a smaller degree, the conveying function. Research limitations/implications The survey is limited in response rate and in separating governance situations from consigliere functions. Practical implications With reservation for professional independence, the auditor as consigliere could be part of the governance of the family firm, but should be trained for this activity. Social implications Regulators should pay attention to the consigliere role when, for example, stipulating compulsory rotation of auditors. Originality/value The paper shows that the auditor is more than a monitor in family firms. The consigliere role, even if not at all dominating, has to be considered, at least in family firms.

scholarly journals Entrepreneurial orientation, competitive advantage and strategic knowledge management capability in Malaysian family firms

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Md Imtiaz Mostafiz ◽  
Mathew Hughes ◽  
Murali Sambasivan
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Firm Performance ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Family Firm ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Family ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Strategic Knowledge Management

Purpose The purpose of this study is to test the thesis that the family firm’s success hinges on effective strategic knowledge management (SKM) capability coupled with an entrepreneurial orientation (EO). Contingency theory holds that entrepreneurial success is contingent on strategic capabilities and resource orchestration theory explains how well family firms nurture capabilities to structure, bundle and leverage resources that define competitive advantage (CA). This study combines these two theoretical viewpoints to propose the effects of EO and SKM capability on CA to achieve successful performance in family firms. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a hybrid approach applying structural equation modelling (SEM) and deep-learning artificial intelligence (DL-AI) analysis to survey data on 268 Malaysian family firms. Findings SEM results confirm that CA mediates the relationship between innovativeness, proactiveness and risk-taking dimensions of EO and firm performance. Autonomy and competitive aggressiveness have no bearing, however. The relationships among innovativeness, proactiveness and risk-taking with CA and performance are positively moderated by SKM capability, becoming more potent at higher levels. Moreover, four additional DL-AI models reveal the necessity of specific EO dimensions and the interacting effects of EO–SKM capability to influence CA and to attain performance success subsequently. Originality/value This study theorizes and presents two new boundary conditions to a knowledge-based theory of the family firm and its firm performance. First, CA mediates the relationship between EO and performance; and second, SKM capability moderates the relationships between EO and CA and between EO and family firm performance. Methodologically, this study uses DL-AI to embrace non-linearity and prioritize predictor variables based on normalized importance to produce greater accuracy over regression analysis. Hence, DL-AI adds methodological novelty to the knowledge management and family firm literature.

Family Social Capital in the Family Firm: A Taxonomic Classification, Relationships With Outcomes, and Directions for Advancement

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Sanchez-Ruiz ◽  
Joshua J. Daspit ◽  
Daniel T. Holt ◽  
Matthew W. Rutherford
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Family Firm ◽  
Taxonomic Classification ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Unique Form ◽  
Family Social Capital ◽  
Two Samples ◽  
The Family ◽  
Heterogeneous Nature

The unique form of social capital among family involved in the business, or family social capital (FSC), has both positive and negative effects on the family firm. To better understand how FSC exists across family firms and advance related theory, we develop a taxonomy of FSC. Using configuration analyses on two samples of family firms, we find that three clusters of family firms exist, which include firms with Instrumental, Identifiable, and Indistinguishable FSC. The specific configurations of each cluster are noted, and effects on economic and noneconomic outcomes are identified to advance understanding of the heterogeneous nature of family firms.

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