Entrepreneurial Orientation in Family Firms: Looking at a European Outermost Region

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (04) ◽  
pp. 441-460 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duarte Pimentel ◽  
João Pedro Couto ◽  
Marc Scholten
Keyword(s):  
Family Business ◽  
Entrepreneurial Orientation ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Family Participation ◽  
Autonomous Region ◽  
Business Context ◽  
The Family ◽  
A Current

This study addresses a current debate in the family business literature involving the extent to which the family business context hinders or promotes entrepreneurial behavior. The empirical evidence is provided by 155 small-sized firms, 82 family-controlled and 73 nonfamily-controlled, operating in an outermost region, the Autonomous Region of the Azores. This study analyzes the differences between family and nonfamily firms in regard to entrepreneurial orientation and how it is influenced by family participation. Results show that there are differences in entrepreneurship orientation and in two of its three dimensions, while revealing that family participation is negatively associated with entrepreneurial orientation and its three dimensions.

scholarly journals Family business exit and private equity investment decisions: Governance implications for value creation

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 464-484 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paolo Di Toma ◽  
Stefano Montanari
Keyword(s):  
Family Business ◽  
Value Creation ◽  
Private Equity ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Organizational Capabilities ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Governance Mechanism ◽  
Family Commitment ◽  
The Family ◽  
Generational Succession

This paper was motivated by the increasing interest in the current debate for the entrepreneurial process in family firms. Little research to date has investigated the family business exit and this topic is mainly considered as a failure for entrepreneurial families. However, when uncertainties arise concerning generational succession, the family business exit may enable ownership transitions facilitating survival and long term value creation strategies. Among the exit options, a private equity buyout may balance the family’s wealth protection and the firm’s future growth. However, which family specific characteristics and strategic needs may affect the exit option still remains a neglected topic. Based on recent research addressing entrepreneurship in family firms and corporate governance literature, this paper develops a case study for investigating the bridging role of private equity buyout for going through strategic transitions in family firms. Findings suggest that a private equity buyout is a governance mechanism which may sustain an entrepreneurial transition by realigning family interests and goals. It may also allow the family commitment for improving organizational capabilities required by an entrepreneurial transition.

Do dissimilarities in the family involvement in family firms lead to different levels of indebtedness? Evidence from Spain

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
María Comino-Jurado ◽  
Sonia Sánchez-Andújar ◽  
Purificación Parrado-Martínez
Keyword(s):  
Family Involvement ◽  
Family Business ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Governance Structure ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Family ◽  
Family Business Group ◽  
Different Levels

PurposeThis paper examines how differences in the family involvement in a family business can influence its level of indebtedness. Assuming the influence of family is not the same for all family firms, we consider each company as a combination of the family involvement in three dimensions of the business: ownership, management and governance structure.Design/methodology/approachUsing the partial least squares technique allows us to address the heterogeneity of family firms through an integral concept of family involvement in business that jointly considers the level of family participation in the ownership, management and governance structure of each firm.FindingsOur results demonstrate that the level of family involvement in a family firm, considering the heterogeneity existing within the family business group, directly influences its level of indebtedness. In addition, we find that family involvement in ownership and governance structures individually considered are positively related to the level of indebtedness of the family business.Originality/valueOur findings prove that some indebtedness patterns, which previous literature has described as common to all Spanish family businesses, may actually be valid only for specific family firms with a particular level of family involvement. In addition, the way of measuring family business heterogeneity through our integral concept of family involvement can be replicated by other authors because of the manageability of the items, thus contributing to an increased understanding of the effects of family involvement in firms' development.

scholarly journals Venturing Motives and Venturing Types in Entrepreneurial Families: A Corporate Entrepreneurship Perspective

2021 ◽  
pp. 104225872110064
Author(s):  
Frederik J. Riar ◽  
Conrad Wiedeler ◽  
Nadine Kammerlander ◽  
Franz W. Kellermanns
Keyword(s):  
Family Support ◽  
Family Business ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Corporate Entrepreneurship ◽  
Entrepreneurial Activity ◽  
Emotional Attachment ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Business Context ◽  
The Family

Current research suggests that entrepreneurship in the family business context is mainly induced by top-down firm-level activity. We propose that entrepreneurial activity is also initiated autonomously as a bottom-up process by individual members or a group of individual members of an entrepreneurial family (EF). Building on 63 interviews with EF members involved in 39 venturing cases, we reveal a set of unique motives driving the venturing activity and show how these motives are intertwined with six heterogeneous family venture types. We also emphasize how positioning (i.e., inside or outside of family firms’ boundaries), family support, emotional attachment, and transgenerational intention vary among the different venture types.

scholarly journals Entrepreneurial Orientation and the Family Firm: Mapping the Field and Tracing a Path for Future Research

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 318-351 ◽  
Author(s):  
Remedios Hernández-Linares ◽  
María Concepción López-Fernández
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Family Business ◽  
Entrepreneurial Orientation ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
Research Gaps ◽  
Main Research ◽  
The Family

Despite several calls for the further study of entrepreneurial orientation in family firms, we still have a fragmented understanding of this topic, whose full potential has yet to be reached. To shed new light on this issue, this article first maps the family business field by carrying out a systematic review and content analysis of the 78 articles identified at the confluence of entrepreneurial orientation and family firms. Our study describes and critically assesses previous research as well as the conclusions reached. Second, this article identifies the main research gaps and provides a path for future investigations.

scholarly journals In the family way: an exploration of family business resilience

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 160-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Beech ◽  
David Devins ◽  
Jeff Gold ◽  
Susan Beech
Keyword(s):  
Family Business ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Ecological Systems ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Relational Dynamics ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Business Context ◽  
Social Ecological Systems ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
The Family

Purpose This paper aims to explore the concept of resilience set within a family business context and considers how familiness and the nature of noneconomic factors, such as relationship dynamics influence performance. This paper provides new insights into the nature and impact of familiness as a mediating device, uncovering the potential for reframing resilience theory and practice. Design/methodology/approach The paper draws on a review of the extant literature in the areas of resilience and familiness as a means of developing a deeper understanding of the social-ecological system of the family firm. Findings The study reveals family business as a complex interrelationship between complimentary social-ecological systems. It highlights the complexity of family business and the challenges of the relational nature of familiness and how this presents additional layers of complexity in the decision making process and implementation. Research limitations/implications The paper draws on literature that is dominated by western culture and may partially or not at all reflect the issues associated with organisational resilience in family firms with such backgrounds and their culturally bound social-ecological systems. Originality/value The paper seeks to fill a knowledge gap by exploring the key elements of organisational resilience in the context of familiness. The work calls for further research into the nature of familiness connections mediating the nature of family relational dynamics. It further provides a framework indicating how these elements can shape and subvert day-to-day management events, raising implications for theory and practice and calls for deeper empirical research to be undertaken.

Family Business in Emerging Markets

2018 ◽  
pp. 526-546 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodrigo Basco
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Model ◽  
Family Business ◽  
Emerging Economies ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Emerging Countries ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
The Family ◽  
Contextual Family ◽  
Social Importance

The phenomenon of the family firm has received considerable attention in academia over the last two decades. Even though the family business field is becoming increasingly more legitimate, the vast majority of family business research has focused on developed countries, with emerging countries being largely underrepresented. This limitation ultimately restricts our understanding of family firms. Thus, to address this gap, this chapter proposes a conceptual model linking three dimensions: family, business, and context. The model considers the specificities of organizational, institutional, social, temporal, and spatial forces across contexts for studying family and business dimensions in emerging countries. The aim of this conceptual model is to capture the complexity of the connectivity among contextual, family, and business dimensions. Exploring, understanding, and predicting these connectivities is particularly relevant in emerging economies because of the economic and social importance of family firms. Therefore, this chapter contributes to our understanding of the family business phenomenon by presenting a brief literature review on what we know about the topic so far, proposing a conceptual model that presents the relevant dimensions for researching family businesses in emerging economies, and highlighting future lines of research to further expand the family business field.

Torn between individual aspirations and the family legacy – individual career development in family firms

2022 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leona Achtenhagen ◽  
Kajsa Haag ◽  
Kajsa Hultén ◽  
Jen Lundgren
Keyword(s):  
Career Development ◽  
Family Business ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Career Planning ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Career Management ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Business Context ◽  
The Family ◽  
Individual Career Management

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore individual career management by family members in the context of their family firms.Design/methodology/approachThe interpretative interview study of family members active in family businesses explores how this context affects the choice, planning, goals and development of family members' careers in their family business.FindingsThe authors find that career management in the family business setting focuses on fulfilling the family business goals rather than the personal goals of family members. Career management is rather reactive and less self-directed than current literature on career development recommends. Based on the results, the authors develop a process model for individual career management in the family business context.Originality/valueLittle is known about individual career management of family members in a family business context, as research on careers in family firms has so far focused mainly on transgenerational succession. The authors explore how in family firms, the trend towards self-directed, individual career planning is in tension with a commitment to the family business and its legacy.

Toward a Theory of Stakeholder Salience in Family Firms

2011 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald K. Mitchell ◽  
Bradley R. Agle ◽  
James J. Chrisman ◽  
Laura J. Spence
Keyword(s):  
Family Business ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Special Section ◽  
Business Case ◽  
Stakeholder Salience ◽  
Business Context ◽  
Family Enterprise ◽  
The Family ◽  
Managerial Perceptions ◽  
General Business

ABSTRACT:The notion of stakeholder salience based on attributes (e.g., power, legitimacy, urgency) is applied in the family business setting. We argue that where principal institutions intersect (i.e., family and business); managerial perceptions of stakeholder salience will be different and more complex than where institutions are based on a single dominant logic. We propose that (1) whereas utilitarian power is more likely in the general business case, normative power is more typical in family business stakeholder salience; (2) whereas in a general business context legitimacy is socially constructed; for family stakeholders, legitimacy is based on heredity; and (3) whereas temporality and criticality are somewhat independent in general-business urgency, they are linked in the family business case because of family ties and family-centered non-economic goals. We apply this theoretical framework to position and integrate the contributions to this special section of Business Ethics Quarterly on “Stakeholder Theory, Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Family Enterprise.”

Making gender visible in family business: past and present

2012 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paloma Fernández Pérez ◽  
Eleanor Hamilton
Keyword(s):  
Family Business ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Business Leadership ◽  
Legal Rules ◽  
Developed Economies ◽  
The Family ◽  
Interdisciplinary Synthesis ◽  
Complex Forms ◽  
Rules Of The Game

This  study  contributes  to  developing  our understanding of gender and family business. It draws on studies from the business history and management literatures and provides an interdisciplinary synthesis. It illuminates the role of women and their participation in the entrepreneurial practices of the family and the business. Leadership is introduced as a concept to examine the roles of women and men in family firms, arguing that concepts used  by  historians or economists like ownership and management have served to make women ‘invisible’, at least in western developed economies in which owners and managers have been historically due to legal rules  of  the  game  men,  and  minoritarily women. Finally, it explores gender relations and  the  notion  that  leadership  in  family business  may  take  complex  forms  crafte within constantly changing relationships.

The effects of goals attainment on CEO-owner satisfaction and the role of family involvement

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 116-127
Author(s):  
Ondřej Machek ◽  
Jiří Hnilica
Keyword(s):  
Family Involvement ◽  
Family Business ◽  
Firm Value ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Hierarchical Regression ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Business Goals ◽  
Growth Increase ◽  
The Family ◽  
Owner Satisfaction

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how the satisfaction with economic and non-economic goals achievement is related to the overall satisfaction with the business of the CEO-owner, and whether family involvement moderates this relationship. Design/methodology/approach Based on a survey among 323 CEO-owners of family and non-family businesses operating in the Czech Republic, the authors employ the OLS hierarchical regression analysis and test the moderating effects of family involvement on the relationship between the satisfaction with different goals attainment and the overall satisfaction with the business. Findings The main finding is that family and non-family CEO-owner’s satisfaction does not differ significantly when economic goals (profit maximisation, sales growth, increase in market share or firm value) and firm-oriented non-economic goals (satisfaction of employees, corporate reputation) are being achieved; both classes of goals increase the overall satisfaction with the firm and the family involvement does not strengthen this relationship. However, when it comes to external non-economic goals related to the society or environment, there is a significant and positive moderating effect of family involvement. Originality/value The study contributes to the family business literature. First, to date, most of the studies focused on family business goals have been qualitative, thus not allowing for generalisation of findings. Second, there is a lack of evidence on the ways in which family firms integrate their financial and non-financial goals. Third, the authors contribute to the literature on the determinants of personal satisfaction with the business for CEOs, which has been the focus on a relatively scarce number of studies.

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