scholarly journals The family variable in the French and Italian wine sector

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefano Bresciani ◽  
Elisa Giacosa ◽  
Laura Broccardo ◽  
Francesca Culasso

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to highlight the differences in terms of economic and financial performance, between family firms (FFs) and non-family firms (NFFs) in the wine sector in Italy and France, where this sector is one of the most representative national economic activities. Design/methodology/approach – This study is based on a sample of Italian and France companies operating in the wine sector. The sample, including medium and large firms, includes 288 FFs and 302 NFFs, for a total of 590 firms. Amadeus database represents the data source. According to Astrachan and Kolenko (1994), a firm is classified as a FF if family had to own over 50 per cent of the business in a private company or more than 10 per cent of a public company. Findings – This study confirms that the family variable is relevant to achieve good economic and financial performance, and endow firms with different features. In terms of economic performance, FFs both in Italy and France outperform in. terms of return on equity and return on assets, though only Italian NFFs outperform in earnings before interest and taxes. In terms of financial performance, both in Italy and France NFFs outperform FFs in current ratio and liquidity ratio, while FFs outperform in solvency ratio. Research limitations/implications – Limitations of the study concern the method adopted, as it could be integrated with some econometrical models. The implications of the paper are relevant for families and regulatory bodies because it helps them to better understand the effects of governance on economic and financial performance. Moreover, the findings of the study can influence the decision-making process of investors in order to identify the long-term outperformers listed on a stock exchange. Originality/value – This study contributes to the literature on family businesses phenomenon on wine sector, which represents one of the most representative of the economy of several countries and in which family businesses are widespread.

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vitor Braga ◽  
Aldina Correia ◽  
Alexandra Braga ◽  
Sofia Lemos

Purpose The success of the family firms cannot be detached from the current paradigm where, within the present economic conditions, economic agents struggle to exploit the existing opportunities and need to take into account the risks associated to the international arena and the innovation processes. The internationalisation and innovation processes may trigger resistance within family business due to their relatively higher difficulty to take risks and to invest in industries outside the scope of their original core business. Innovation and internationalisation processes become relevant strategies for the family firms’ continuity and success. In line with such fact, the aim of this paper is to contribute with insights regarding the processes of innovation and internationalisation within family businesses. In particular, this paper aims to assess the propensity of such firms to apply such strategies, to identify the particular business behaviour and to assess the extent to which the particulars of family firms may constraint or lead to the implementation of innovation policies, and thus its internationalisation. Design/methodology/approach The data were collected through questionnaires within family business aiming to understand the scope and characteristics of internationalisation and innovation processes within these firms. The 154 replies from such data collection were analysed using different multivariate statistic procedures, although this paper is based on factorial and correlation analysis. Findings The analysis of the results shows that there is an association between the processes of innovation and internationalisation within family business. In addition, the results also suggest a typology of firms regarding their innovation and internationalisation strategies and motivations. Research limitations/implications The results of this paper are, to some extent, limited because they did not allow comparing the findings with data from non-family business. However, the authors’ aim was not to distinguish family firms, but rather to characterise them. Practical implications This paper expects to contribute with lessons for the management of family business and to raise awareness of the constraints faced by family business. It is important to highlight that family business performance may be affected by a lower propensity to risk-taking attitudes, by the lack of non-family management and to the necessity of separating the family and the business in the business dimensions that the family limits the business growth. Originality/value Although there is a significant amount of the literature devoted to explore family business, innovation and internationalisation studies, very few draw on the relationship between internationalisation and innovation processes within family business. This paper explores such a relationship within a particular business context – the family dynamics that strongly affect management and business development.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 218-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Atanas Nik Nikolov ◽  
Yuan Wen

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.


2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-124
Author(s):  
Harish Kumar Singla

Purpose The study aims to find if family-owned construction and real estate firms in India are more profitable compared to non-family-owned construction and real estate firms. The study also examines if family ownership and institutional ownership are drivers of the firm profitability. Design/methodology/approach The study uses data of 199 construction and real estate firms listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), India. The data pertains to a period of 13 years (2006-2018). The family firm is defined on the basis on ownership criteria, and the sample is divided into two groups, namely, family firms and non-family firms. The data is analyzed using a two-sample t-test assuming unequal variance and Prais–Winsten panel regression using correlated panels with corrected standard errors (PCSEs) procedure. Findings The findings suggest that family-owned construction and real estate firms are slightly more profitable compared to non-family-owned construction and real estate firms; however, family firms command lesser valuation in the market. The reason for this lower valuation is the mismatch between family holding and institutional holding. A family firm’s profitability is primarily driven by institutional holding that acts as mitigation against the agency conflict. Originality/value The paper is the first attempt to analyze the profitability of construction and real estate family firms, and compare it with non-family-owned construction and real estate firms.


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramanjeet Singh ◽  
Hima Bindu Kota

Purpose To compete and to survive in this era of globalization, organizations, including family businesses, need to have competitive advantage, and innovation and internationalization are some of the ways to achieve this. This paper aims to analyze whether family businesses innovate and internationalize more than non-family businesses and further analyses the type of family businesses “age-wise” and “size-wise” that innovate and internationalize more. Design/methodology/approach The study is empirical in nature. The period of study is 11 years, from 2005 to 2015 (both years inclusive). The sample is chosen from Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) 500 index, a broad-based index in India, covering about 20 industries of the economy. The present study uses multiple regression models to find the innovativeness and internationalization of family businesses. The dependent variables are R&D (proxy for innovativeness) and FXINC (proxy for internationalization). The independent variables are FB (variable that defines whether a business is family business or non-family business); FBAGE (variable that defines the age of the family business); and FBSIZE (variable that defines the size of the family business). The other control variables used in in the study are TA (total assets), REV (revenue), CR (current ratio), QR (quick ratio), DER (debt-equity ratio) and RONW (return on net worth). Fixed effects model was used to understand the innovativeness and internationalization of family businesses. Both industry and year fixed effects were used. SPSS 20.0 version is used for the analysis. All results are heteroscedastic consistent using Breusch–Pagan test. Findings It is found that family businesses are more innovative and internationalized when compared to non-family businesses. The results are consistent with the resource-based theory where it is found that family businesses are entrepreneurial in nature (Salvato, 2004; Zahra et al., 2004; Kellermanns and Eddleston, 2006) which makes them more innovative. It was also found that within the family businesses, younger firms were more innovative and internationalized than older firms. This can be explained by the theory of “learning advantages of newness”, according to which younger firms are more flexible, eager to learn, have less internal resistance and are able to adapt to the changing environment much faster. Originality/value During the studies, the authors have found that there is no conclusive evidence on the innovativeness and internationalization of family businesses. Further, there are apparently negligible studies that analyze what type of family businesses, age wise (younger or older firms) and size wise (smaller or larger firms) use the strategy of innovation and internationalization to grow. The present study analyses the innovativeness and internationalization of family businesses when compared to non-family businesses and also studies the type of family businesses (age wise and size wise) that are more innovative and internationalized.


2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 38-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin R.W. Hiebl

Purpose – This paper aims to shed light on the potential downsides of risk aversion in family firms. Moreover, it seeks to provide measures on how to balance risk taking and risk aversion in family businesses. Design/methodology/approach – The article first presents four “dark sides” of risk aversion in family businesses and then describes three groups of measures to balance risk aversion and risk taking. Both the dark sides as well as the measures to balance risk aversion and risk taking are derived from recent scientific research. Findings – Family businesses may decrease risk aversion and foster risk taking and innovativeness by creating transparency on their risk profiles and including outside knowledge in the form of non-family managers, directors or shareholders. Moreover, properly educating and integrating younger family generations might also alleviate an overly high focus on short-term risk aversion. Practical implications – Family business leaders might find the approach and findings presented in this paper helpful for securing the longer-term survivability of their firms and for improving innovativeness. Originality/value – This article is among the first to deal with the dark sides of risk aversion in family businesses, which might endanger their longer-term survivability.


2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyung Cheol Kang ◽  
Jaemin Kim

Purpose – This study aims to examine whether a switching decision between a family CEO and a non-family professional CEO has a different effect on firm performance and what determines such a decision by family firms. Design/methodology/approach – This study uses multiple regressions, Probit and univariate analyses, based the sample of family-controlled Chaebol firms in Korea for the 11-year period from 2001 to 2011. Findings – Evidence found was consistent with the family entrenchment hypothesis: firms experiencing declining Q value are more likely to replace family CEOs with non-family CEOs, and that these firms, having switched to non-family CEOs, exhibit an improvement in firm performance as measured by the change in Q value. On the other hand, for those firms that replace non-family CEOs with family member CEOs, no evidence was found that the switching decision either decreases or increases firm performance. The results of Probit and univariate analyses suggest that firms switching to family CEOs tend to be larger, stock-exchange listed and more “central”, with more cash flow rights held by the controlling families and with relatively more equity holdings in the other affiliated firms of the same Chaebol group. In contrast, firms switching to non-family CEOs tend to be smaller, unlisted and less “central”, with less equity holdings in the other affiliated firms of the same Chaebol group. Originality/value – This study sheds light on the different value implications and determinants of a decision between “family CEO” and “non-family CEO”.


2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 345-372
Author(s):  
Maximiliano Gonzalez ◽  
Juan David Idrobo ◽  
Rodrigo Taborda

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to carry out a meta-regression analysis upon the literature that examines the relationship between family firms and financial performance. Design/Methodology/Approach Information of publication and study characteristics from 61 primary studies, comprising 726 size effects was collected. In particular, three leading factors highlighted in narrative literature reviews analyzed were: the financial performance measures, the family–firm definitions and the estimation methodologies. Findings Overall, a positive relationship between family involvement and financial performance was found. A series of results, those linked to return on assets (ROA) – earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), suggest positive publication bias from family definition and negative publication bias when OLS is used. Tobin’s Q estimates show no linkage to certain traits and aspects of the research process. Originality/value Existing literature review and meta-analysis studies show not concluding results on the family effect upon firm performance. The meta-regression analysis used in this paper allows to examine simultaneously effect size and publication bias. The latter effect is particularly salient in the approach and findings, and not present in previous studies.


2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 242-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suhail Sultan ◽  
André de Waal ◽  
Robert Goedegebuure

Purpose Many businesses in the world are family-owned. A family-owned business differs from other types of businesses in several ways, because it is composed of both a family and a business. A recurring question in management research has been: which type of business performs better, the family-owned or the non-family owned? An alternative question which in this respect can also be asked, in the light of the high-performance organization (HPO) theory which has become popular these past years, is: which type of business is more likely to become and stay high performing, the family-owned or the non-family owned? To try to answer these questions, many studies have been done in which the performance of family firms was compared with firms that have no family ties, but these studies gave mixed results and conflicting opinions. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach It seems evident that a new research approach is needed. A way forward is to use the HPO concept which looks at the factors important for an organization to become an HPO. Thus, the research question which this study attempts to answer is: are there differences in performance between family and non-family businesses, and if so, can these be traced back to differences in the way these businesses deal with the factors of high performance? The research used the HPO questionnaire and interviews to collect data at Palestine family and non-family owned businesses. Findings The research shows that Palestine non-family businesses significantly outperform family-owned businesses. Family businesses thus seem “a living paradox.” Balancing family interest and business interest often requires a compromise between family and business goals. It seems that Palestinian family businesses focus more on family interest by putting the goal of survival and “keeping the business in the family” above (short-term) financial goals. Family businesses might also feel more that the company’s money is the family money, and as a result their investment and expenses strategies are more conservative thus missing possible economic investment opportunities. Research limitations/implications The study results add to the current debate in the literature about which type of business performs better, and at the same time they add knowledge because if there are differences these might be explained by the factors of high performance. In this vein, the study results also contribute to the literature on high performance, as the HPO framework has not been used before for this type of comparative research. Originality/value The study results have practical value because they yield knowledge about the ways to organize a business so it can achieve high organizational results which is of great value to managers attempting to make their organizations perform better.


2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabete Simões Vieira

Purpose This paper aims to examine the relationship between board of directors’ characteristics and performance in family businesses. It offers evidence to the question of whether a family firm (FF) differs from a non-family firm and looks at the possibility of asymmetrical effects between periods of stability and economic adversity. Design/methodology/approach A panel data approach was applied to a sample of Portuguese firms listed the on Euronext Lisbon exchange between 2002 and 2013. Findings The results show that FFs are likely to have a lower proportion of independent members and higher gender diversity on their boards than non-family firms. FF performance is positively related to ownership concentration and gender diversity. There are performance premiums for family businesses, which have more gender diversity than their counterparts. These effects also depend on whether the economy is in recession. The evidence suggests that the presence of women on the board and the leverage and size of the FFs have a more significant impact on the performance in periods of economic adversity. Research limitations/implications One limitation of this study is the small size of the sample as it was drawn from the Euronext Lisbon exchange, a small stock exchange market. Originality/value This study provides input into the academic discussion on corporate governance and FF, an area which is in need of research. In addition, the authors examine this issue in conjunction with generalised economic adversity, focusing on the possible asymmetrical effects that the nature of the board of directors may have on performance in periods of stability and those of economic adversity. The role of board of directors is crucial to the understanding of corporate behaviour and the setting of the policy that regulates corporate activities.


2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 351-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Motylska-Kuzma

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the status, trends and potential future research areas in the field of financial decision-making process in family firms. Design/methodology/approach The bibliometric indicators and methods are applied in order to describe the publication activity and to analyze the contents of the articles. The material examined are the journals included in the SCOPUS, SAGE and EBSCO database and the peer-reviewed article, which contain in their titles, keywords or abstracts with a combination of phrases “family firms,” “family business” or “family enterprise” with “financial decision” or one of the subcategories: capital structure, investment decision, capital budgeting, working capital management or dividend policy. The study covers the period from 2000 to 2016. Findings Although the interest in family business research is growing rapidly, the area of financial decision making is underestimated. Despite of the fact that the vast majority of the studies into financial decisions in family firms is are focused on the capital structure, they do not give clear answers to the question of how the family businesses behave in this scope and what their true financial logic is. Additionally, the area of the investment decisions and dividend policy is rather not better left uncovered. Research limitations/implications The analyses enable the identification of potential avenues for future research which could be vital to make an advancement in the consolidation of the discipline. Practical implications The analyses ought to have a potential meaning mainly for external institutions (especially financial institutions) in better understanding of the family businesses and their point of view. Originality/value This paper fulfills the need of a comprehensive review of financial decision making process in family firms. It provides a literature review and bibliography for the period between 2000 and 2016 for the use of both academicians and practitioners.


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