scholarly journals Family Business’s Transitioning to Circular Economy Model: The Case of “Mercadona”

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro Nuñez-Cacho ◽  
Valentín Molina-Moreno ◽  
Francisco A. Corpas-Iglesias ◽  
Francisco J. Cortés-García
Keyword(s):  
Family Business ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Environmental Problem ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Environmental Policies ◽  
Family Businesses ◽  
Energy Resources ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
The Family

Sustainability addresses environmental and social issues affecting this and future generations. When family businesses perceive that the community is disrupted, recognizes an environmental problem and responds by implementing new environmental policies or regulations. The family business’s socio-emotional values press to transition to a more sustainable production system, such as the circular Economy. Drawing on the Dubin (1978) methodology, we design a sustainable model, which shows family businesses’ response to changes in the environment. It explains the reasons why family businesses transition to Circular Economy, based on the theory of Socio-Emotional Wealth. We check the model through the case study of the food retail leader in Spanish market, Mercadona that applies policies about energy, resources and waste to became a circular economy business model.

scholarly journals Family Business’s Transitioning to Circular Economy Model: The Case of “Mercadona”

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro Nuñez-Cacho ◽  
Valentín Molina-Moreno ◽  
Francisco A. Corpas-Iglesias ◽  
Francisco J. Cortés-García
Keyword(s):  
Family Business ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Environmental Problem ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Environmental Policies ◽  
Family Businesses ◽  
Building Models ◽  
The Family

Sustainability addresses environmental and social issues affecting this and future generations. When family businesses perceive that the community is disrupted, recognize an environmental problem and respond by implementing new environmental policies or regulations, the family business’s socio-emotional values press to transition to a more sustainable production system, such as the ‘Circular Economy.’ Drawing on the Dubin (1978) methodology—a paradigm for building models through deduction—we design a sustainable model, which shows family businesses’ responses to changes in the environment. It explains the reasons why family firms transition to the Circular Economy, based on the theory of Socio-Emotional Wealth (SEW). We check the model through the case study of the food retail leader in the Spanish market—Mercadona—which applies policies about energy, resources and waste to become a Circular Economy business model. Because of the strong family character of Mercadona, this case can be useful for the decision-making of other family businesses.

scholarly journals Transition to the Circular Economy in the Fashion Industry: The Case of the Inditex Family Business

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (18) ◽  
pp. 10202
Author(s):  
Karina Nicolle Esbeih ◽  
Valentín Molina-Moreno ◽  
Pedro Núñez-Cacho ◽  
Bruna Silva-Santos
Keyword(s):  
Family Business ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Environmental Problem ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Environmental Policies ◽  
Fashion Industry ◽  
Economy Model ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Transition Speed ◽  
The Family

Society is increasingly concerned about aspects of work related to sustainability. This leads organizations to reflect on the economic, environmental, and social problems that affect both current and future generations. When companies identify an environmental problem, they try to respond to it through changes in their environmental policies, aiming at the transition towards sustainability. In this context, the circular economy appears as a regenerative industrial system that replaces the concept of “end of life” with that of “restoration”. It is oriented to the use of renewable energies, eliminating the use of toxic chemicals, which are harmful to reuse. The theory of socio-emotional wealth describes the behavior patterns of family businesses in response to the environmental changes that occur and the reasons derived from the family character that make them move towards the circular economy model. This article studies the case of the Spanish textile manufacturing and distribution multinational Inditex, analyzing the information collected in its environmental balances in the period 2013–2018. The analysis allows us to observe the speed of Inditex’s transition to the circular economy. For this, transition speed indicators were formed in each of the dimensions of the circular economy model. The results of the study indicate areas in which the company is moving faster and those in which more effort is needed. Finally, a collection of good practices related to the CE used by Inditex is provided.

scholarly journals Ownership Structures within Hungarian Family Businesses – Theories and Practice

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 35-40
Author(s):  
Júlia Tobak
Keyword(s):  
Family Business ◽  
Ownership Structure ◽  
Jel Classification ◽  
Family Businesses ◽  
Family Ownership ◽  
Service Trade ◽  
Ownership Structures ◽  
The Family ◽  
Owned Company

  We can talk about family business if the notions of family, ownership and business are closely connected to each other, namely if the business is in the possession of the family, managed and controlled by the family members. A family owned company is a business where a family has the majority ownership and/or the majority management and at least one family member actively works in the firm, the family owns the business. The study contains the results of research on ownership structure of family owned businesses. The examined family businesses are interested in longterm preservation of values, thus succession of generations plays a key role in their case. They attaches great importance how the ownership structure develops. The methotology to know more about the ownership structure of family businesses 11 expert interviews were made between november 2016 and september 2017 with owners and next generations of family owned agri-food enterprises in Hungary. A case study has been prepared too in this topic with the participation of companies with different activities (production, service, trade). In order to classify the analysed companies six categories of ownership were developed. These are non-owner, emotional owner, partial owner, controlling owner, majority owner and exclusive/ sole owner. Each generation of the analysed FBs were classified to these categories. According to the results the analysed family owned companies even are sharing the property within family. There are only two interviewed companies whose case we can talk about exclusive/sole ownership. JEL Classification: G32

Succession in Small and Medium-Sized Family Businesses: Toward a Typology of Predecessor Roles During and After Instatement of the Successor

2007 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 95-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise Cadieux
Keyword(s):  
Family Business ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
Research Strategy ◽  
Family Businesses ◽  
Study Research ◽  
Joint Management ◽  
The Family ◽  
Succession Process ◽  
Gradual Retirement

The last two steps in the succession process—the joint management and withdrawal phases—differ from preceding phases in that they mark the successor's official entry into the family business as future head and the gradual retirement of the predecessor. Alone at the helm until that point, predecessors are faced with an important period of transition in their life where their role as leader is replaced by other roles that have not yet been clearly defined in the existing literature. Using a case study research strategy, this article presents a typology of predecessor roles during and after instatement of the successor from five small and medium-sized family businesses that have successfully completed their first generational transfer.

Attitudes and expectations of shareholders: The case of the multi-generation family business

2010 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 346-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jill Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Family Member ◽  
Family Business ◽  
Family Businesses ◽  
Transfer Of Knowledge ◽  
Next Generation ◽  
The Family ◽  
Generation Family ◽  
Structured Questionnaire

AbstractAs family shareholder support is essential for the ongoing viability of the business as a family business, multi-generation family businesses which allow ‘the ownership tree’ to grow need to monitor the attitudes and expectations of the expanding number of family member shareholders. This paper reports on a case study of a multi-generation family business where the shareholder group had grown to 50 individual shareholders. The study explored the shareholders' views about the business and particularly their attitudes to stewardship and whether and under what circumstances, they would hold their shareholdings, pass them to the next generation of family or possibly consider relinquishing their holdings. Data was obtained from a semi-structured questionnaire and follow-up interviews. While respondents indicated that they had immense pride in being a shareholder of the family business, they admitted that their knowledge of that business was less than optimal. Financial returns were viewed as important, but the intangible rewards relating to the heritage of forebears were more so. While they were keen to pass on their shares to their children, they were uncertain about the level of commitment the next generation members would have. Lessons from this case study are discussed for other multi-generation family businesses focusing on shareholders' responsibilities as owners and the board's need to ensure timely transfer of knowledge to the wider shareholder group.

Attitudes and expectations of shareholders: The case of the multi-generation family business

2010 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 346-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jill Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Family Member ◽  
Family Business ◽  
Family Businesses ◽  
Transfer Of Knowledge ◽  
Next Generation ◽  
The Family ◽  
Generation Family ◽  
Structured Questionnaire

AbstractAs family shareholder support is essential for the ongoing viability of the business as a family business, multi-generation family businesses which allow ‘the ownership tree’ to grow need to monitor the attitudes and expectations of the expanding number of family member shareholders. This paper reports on a case study of a multi-generation family business where the shareholder group had grown to 50 individual shareholders. The study explored the shareholders' views about the business and particularly their attitudes to stewardship and whether and under what circumstances, they would hold their shareholdings, pass them to the next generation of family or possibly consider relinquishing their holdings. Data was obtained from a semi-structured questionnaire and follow-up interviews. While respondents indicated that they had immense pride in being a shareholder of the family business, they admitted that their knowledge of that business was less than optimal. Financial returns were viewed as important, but the intangible rewards relating to the heritage of forebears were more so. While they were keen to pass on their shares to their children, they were uncertain about the level of commitment the next generation members would have. Lessons from this case study are discussed for other multi-generation family businesses focusing on shareholders' responsibilities as owners and the board's need to ensure timely transfer of knowledge to the wider shareholder group.

The innovation and internationalisation processes of family businesses

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vitor Braga ◽  
Aldina Correia ◽  
Alexandra Braga ◽  
Sofia Lemos
Keyword(s):  
Family Business ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Family Businesses ◽  
Family Management ◽  
Multivariate Statistic ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Business Innovation ◽  
The Family ◽  
Internationalisation Strategies ◽  
Innovation Processes

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.

Family succession, professionalization and internationalization: a study of Brazilian family businesses

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Augusto Dalmoro Costa ◽  
Aurora Carneiro Zen ◽  
Everson dos Santos Spindler
Keyword(s):  
Family Business ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Family Businesses ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Family ◽  
Two Generations ◽  
Internationalization Strategies ◽  
The Relationship

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between family succession, professionalization and internationalization in family businesses within the Brazilian context.Design/methodology/approachThe paper presents a multiple-case study method with three Brazilian family businesses that have at least two generations of the owning family involved in the business and an international presence of at least three years. In-depth interviews and secondary data were undertaken with family and non-family members of each case.FindingsThe authors' results show that a family business can boost its internationalization by introducing both succession planning and professionalization on international activities. As family members tend to be more risk-averse and focused on keeping the family business within the family, professionalization is a way of improving the firm's ability to expand internationally. This process tends to lead to lower performance by the firm for the first few months or the first year after the investment, but afterward, international performance tends to grow exponentially.Originality/valueOnly a few studies have been concerned on the relationship of these three dimensions. Thus, the research takes into account that professionalization and succession lead family businesses to improve their internationalization strategies.

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