An Institution-Based View of Large Family Firms: A Recap and Overview

2018 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike W. Peng ◽  
Wei Sun ◽  
Cristina Vlas ◽  
Alessandro Minichilli ◽  
Guido Corbetta
Keyword(s):  
Family Firms ◽  
Large Family ◽  
Family Firm ◽  
Family Ownership ◽  
Socioemotional Wealth ◽  
Broad Scope ◽  
The World ◽  
Institutional Transitions ◽  
Recent Debate ◽  
And Control

This article sketches the contours of an institution-based view of family ownership and control in large firms, with a focus on institutional roots, institutional relatedness, and institutional transitions. The institution-based view brings considerable continuity to family-firm research. It also offers significant novelty in helping resolve some puzzles. Specifically, it answers why the Berle and Means hypothesis on the “inevitability” of separation of ownership and control has not received support in many parts of the world. Finally, its broad scope enables us to integrate institution-based arguments with an important recent debate on the socioemotional wealth (SEW) priorities of family firms.

Family Firms and Compliance: Reconciling the Conflicting Predictions Within the Socioemotional Wealth Perspective

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luiz Ricardo Kabbach de Castro ◽  
Ruth V. Aguilera ◽  
Rafel Crespí-Cladera
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Family Influence ◽  
Family Ownership ◽  
Socioemotional Wealth ◽  
Agency Conflict ◽  
Corporate Governance Codes ◽  
Control Dimension ◽  
Governance Institutions ◽  
And Control

We draw on the socioemotional wealth perspective to examine the influence of family ownership on firms’ noncompliance with corporate governance codes. Our results yield an inverted U-shaped effect of family ownership on noncompliance. While the family influence and control dimension leads to high levels of noncompliance, socioworthiness stemming from image and reputation dimension lessens noncompliance. In the presence of potential agency conflict, the control dimension prevails over reputation, even in countries with strong governance institutions. Our findings have critical implications for family business theory, for governance policy making and also for better understanding corporate governance in family firms.

Socioemotional Wealth and Its Effect on Family Firm Performance

2020 ◽  
pp. 201-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juili Milind Ballal ◽  
Varadraj Bapat
Keyword(s):  
Firm Performance ◽  
Internal Consistency ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Family Firm ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Significant Positive Effect ◽  
Strategic Choices ◽  
Socioemotional Wealth ◽  
The World ◽  
Positive Effect

Family firm is the oldest and the most prevalent type of business entity in the world. A unique feature that sets apart a family business from its non-family counterparts is the Socioemotional Wealth (SEW). Preservation of SEW among family firms is of paramount importance. Various strategic choices including need for innovation and internationalization are influenced by SEW. Studies also show that a family firm's SEW plays an influential role in the firm performance. The This chapter outlines the different scales used to measure SEW, checks the reliability and internal consistency of the existing REI scale in Indian context, investigates the heterogeneity of family firms and understands the effect of different SEW dimensions on firm performance. The findings reveal that SEW has a significant positive effect on firm performance. Contributions of the study and scope for future research are also discussed.

Beyond socioemotional wealth: taking another step toward a theory of the family firm

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 279-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
James J. Chrisman ◽  
Daniel T. Holt
Keyword(s):  
Family Firms ◽  
Initial Step ◽  
Family Firm ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Socioemotional Wealth ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Family ◽  
Conceptual Paper ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explain how the concept of socioemotional wealth can be combined with other important concepts in the family firm literature to develop a theory of the family firm. Design/methodology/approach This is a conceptual paper based on a review of the paper of Martin and Gómez-Mejía in this issue as well as the family business literature in general. Findings Martin and Gómez-Mejía (this issue) present a theoretical model and propositions on the relationship between socioemotional and financial wealth that advances understanding of family firm decision-making. That paper provides an initial step toward a theory of the family firm that can explain why firms select the family form of organization to conduct economic activities, what determines their scale and scope and why heterogeneity is observed among family firms. This commentary takes another step toward such a theory by discussing how the combined consideration of goals, governance and resources could be used to address the above three questions. Originality/value The precepts of a new theory of the family firm is presented that incorporates the concepts of goals (socioemotional wealth), governance (family ownership and control) and resources (familiness) of family firms to explain why family firms exist and potentially thrive as well as to explain the heterogeneity among family firms.

Family Ownership Goals and Socioemotional Wealth: Evidence from Finnish Family Firms

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (02) ◽  
pp. 207-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariateresa Torchia ◽  
Marita Rautiainen ◽  
Andrea Calabrò ◽  
Tuuli Ikäheimonen ◽  
Timo Pihkala ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Survey Data ◽  
Goal Setting ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Family Ownership ◽  
Socioemotional Wealth ◽  
Ownership Status ◽  
Impact On Family

By focusing on family owners’ perceptions and dynamics the aim of this paper is to understand the specific goals associated to their ownership status and whether and to what extend they impact on family firms’ growth and continuity. We use survey data on Finnish family firms and identify a set of differentiated family owners’ goals. Our findings contribute to the debate on differentiating socioemotional wealth by untangling the existence of variations in family principals’ goal setting and the importance to also consider that financial motives could determine family owners’ goals.

The Effect of Transgenerational Control Intention on Family-Firm Performance: It Depends Who Pursues It

2017 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 629-646 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Hoffmann ◽  
Peter Jaskiewicz ◽  
Torsten Wulf ◽  
James G. Combs
Keyword(s):  
Firm Performance ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Empirical Investigation ◽  
Cognitive Biases ◽  
Family Firm ◽  
Socioemotional Wealth ◽  
German Family

Transgenerational control intention (TCI) is a pivotal characteristic of many family firms. Yet, it remains unclear whether TCI benefits family-firm performance by instilling a long-term view, or hurts performance by fueling harmful socioemotional wealth (SEW) goals. We posit that it depends who pursues it. When faced with TCI, family managers are known to suffer from cognitive biases that, we submit, do not similarly apply to nonfamily managers. Thus, only family managers harm performance when pursuing TCI. An empirical investigation of 107 private German family firms supports our theory; the effect of TCI on firm performance depends on who pursues it.

scholarly journals Do families shape corporate governance structures?

2009 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 327-345 ◽  
Author(s):  
María Sacristán Navarro ◽  
Silvia Gómez Ansón
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Family Firm ◽  
Family Ownership ◽  
Governance Structures ◽  
Listed Firms ◽  
Board Committees ◽  
Spanish Family ◽  
Open Question

AbstractThis paper provides empirical evidence of family firm corporate governance structures, by examining a set of corporate governance characteristics of 132 non-financial Spanish listed firms. Results show that family firm boards present differential characteristics and that different patterns of family ownership configurations do not affect family firm corporate governance structures. We find that Spanish family firm boards are smaller than those in non-family firms. Family firm directors own a larger fraction of firm shares and have longer Chairman tenure than non-family firms, and family firms use fewer voluntary board committees – such as nomination and remuneration committees and executive committees. Besides, family firm boards and committees are biased towards insiders. Whether these differential characteristics affect other minority non-family shareholders negatively remains an open question.

The Salience of Market, Bureaucratic, and Clan Controls in the Management of Family Firm Transitions: Some Tentative Australian Evidence

2000 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ken Moores ◽  
Joseph Mula
Keyword(s):  
Family Firms ◽  
Family Firm ◽  
Life Cycles ◽  
Family Businesses ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Nationwide Study ◽  
Economic Significance ◽  
Australian Family ◽  
And Control

Despite the numerical and economic significance of family businesses to Australia, they are not extensively researched. This paper reports some of the results from a nationwide study of Australian family-owned businesses that sought to ascertain and understand their management and control practices. In particular, the paper assesses the organizational transitions of Australian family firms in terms of their dominant control practices. These control measures are evaluated according to Ouchi's classification of market, bureaucratic, and clan controls. The salience of these different forms of control serves to identify distinctive patterns that define periods of organizational passage (life cycles).

scholarly journals Earnings Quality, Family Influence and Corporate Governance: Empirical Evidence from Malaysia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Wan Adibah Binti Wan Ismail
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Board Of Directors ◽  
Audit Committee ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Earnings Quality ◽  
Governance Structure ◽  
Family Influence ◽  
Family Ownership ◽  
The Board Of Directors ◽  
And Control

<p>This study investigates whether family ownership and control, and corporate governance are associated with earnings quality, and whether family influence in firms weakens the association between corporate governance and earnings quality. This study uses a panel sample of 527 publicly traded firms over the period 2003-2008 from the Malaysia Stock Exchange (Bursa Malaysia). Identifying family firms as firms in which family members hold a significant portion of shares and possess control over the board of directors, this study finds that family firms have significantly higher earnings quality. The results remain unchanged, even after using alternative measures of earnings quality and family influence. This study also finds that the earnings quality of firms in Malaysia is positively associated with the size and independence of the audit committee and negatively associated with the size of the board of directors. However, these relationships exist only for nonfamily firms. These results on the corporate governance variables suggest that the effectiveness of corporate governance could be mediated by family influence. Using multivariate regressions that include interaction variables for corporate governance and family firms, the study finds that the relationship between corporate governance and earnings quality is mediated by family ownership and control. The result is consistent with the argument that the monitoring role of corporate governance reduces when there is substantial control by family owners in a firm. Overall, this study concludes that family ownership and control drives higher quality earnings for firms regardless of their corporate governance structure.</p>

Do Family Firms Have Higher or Lower Deal Valuations? A Contextual Analysis

2020 ◽  
pp. 104225872091095
Author(s):  
Zulfiquer Ali Haider ◽  
Jialong Li ◽  
Yefeng Wang ◽  
Zhenyu Wu
Keyword(s):  
Family Firms ◽  
Family Firm ◽  
Contextual Analysis ◽  
Socioemotional Wealth ◽  
Loosely Coupled ◽  
Foreign Acquisitions ◽  
Family Governance ◽  
The Core ◽  
Post Hoc

How does the socioemotional wealth (SEW) of a family firm affect its deal valuation in acquisition? Using a sample of 515 completed transactions of S&P 500 firms over the period 2003–2016, we examine a number of contexts and find that SEW creates differential valuations of targets by family firms vis-à-vis non-family firms. Particularly from an internationalization perspective, acquisitions may be an ideal option for family firms because foreign acquisitions may be loosely coupled from the core firm. Post-hoc analyses on the heterogeneity in family governance reveal that founder and descendant board chairs may have different perceptions of SEW.

Socioemotional Wealth in Family Firms

2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 258-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pascual Berrone ◽  
Cristina Cruz ◽  
Luis R. Gomez-Mejia
Keyword(s):  
Family Business ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Family Firm ◽  
Socioemotional Wealth ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
The Family ◽  
Different Dimensions ◽  
Dominant Paradigm

This article makes the case for the socioemotional wealth (SEW) approach as the potential dominant paradigm in the family business field. The authors argue that SEW is the most important differentiator of the family firm as a unique entity and, as such, helps explain why family firms behave distinctively. In doing so, the authors review the concept of SEW, its different dimensions, and its links with other theoretical approaches. The authors also address the issue of how to measure this construct and offer various alternatives for operationalizing it. Finally, they offer a set of topics that can be pursued in future studies using the SEW approach.

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