Investigating Inner Dynamics in Family Firms

This chapter shows that a multilevel model of analysis is a suitable approach in order to highlight hidden relationships among different structural units within organizations. In addition, current literature argued that the field of management could be enhanced by integrating the theory and empirical work of other related social science disciplines (e.g., psychology). In adopting analytical techniques from clinical, social, and I/O psychology, this chapter highlights the deepest (dysfunctional) organizational dynamics, thus demonstrating the effectiveness of a multidisciplinary approach to complex organizational phenomena. Finally, this chapter highlights implications and suggestions for scholars and consultants in the field of business analysis. In particular, the multiple nature of dysfunctional dynamics advocates for a wider diffusion of psychological diagnostic tools, integrating them into traditional economical and financial assessment.

The Quadruple Sustainability

This chapter analyzes the relationship between ownership structure and sustainability performance adopting the socioemotional wealth approach. This work extends previous literature on the topic by considering the three dimensions of sustainability performance: economic, social, and environmental. Analysis with the matching technique revealed that being a family firm has a positive effect on economic profitability, growth sales, employees training and commitment, investment in R&D, environmental commitment, and cooperation agreements with external partners. The authors use a sample of Spanish firms operating in the tourism industry.

The Role of Family Ownership in Survival and Bouncing Back

The latest global economic and financial crisis has been a litmus test for companies, especially for SMEs. These companies have had to demonstrate their ability to be resilient, surviving first and then recovering. This chapter studies the role of family ownership in the survival and recovery of SMEs during a stressful event. From a perspective based on the complementarity or substitutability of goals that family firms pursue, the authors propose that family ownership has a positive effect on survival but a negative effect on recovery. Furthermore, they propose that the risk of bankruptcy before a crisis moderates the relationship between family ownership and survival. Hypotheses have been tested with a dataset of 3,133 Spanish manufacturing MEs finding evidence for the positive role of family ownership in survival and for the moderating effect of previous bankruptcy risk. The empirical data confirms good news for family-owned firms.

Technological Innovation in Family Firms

This chapter illustrates the main issues with respect to innovation process within family firms. In the first part, it describes the main theories underlying the innovation process of family firms (agency theory, altruism, portfolio theory, stewardship theory, socioemotional wealth perspective). In the second part, it exposes the R&D underinvestment problem in large companies with a focus on the effect of the family ownership on the R&D investments. In the third part, it describes the effect of family ownership on the innovation output with a focus on the kind of innovation (radical vs. incremental). In the fourth section, studies exploring the innovation strategies of family firms (prospectors, analysers, defenders, reactors) are examined. In the fifth section, it sheds light on the innovation management process of family firms. In this part, it explores the issues of internal innovation process (functional vs. cross-functional structure) and of the partnerships with external actors aimed to generate innovation.

Keys to the Survival of the Family Firm

The purpose of this research is to carry out an in-depth exploration of the causes of the family firm's success over short and long term, analysing which capabilities are the most valuable sources of sustainable competitive advantage in every time horizon. The results confirm only functional capabilities have a positive and significant effect on short-term economic performance, whereas dynamic capabilities are the only ones that have a positive and significant impact on long-term economic performance.

Ownership and Operating Performance of Spanish Family IPO Firms

Previous studies have shown the existence of a relationship between the ownership structure of a company and its operational performance. In this context, the empirical evidence reveals that after an initial public offering (IPO), companies experience a decline in their operational performance. In this research, the authors investigate whether the characteristics of Spanish family firms led to a different operating behavior with respect to non-family companies when they go public through an IPO. The results show that the particularities of the family firm do not turn into significant differences in operational performance after the listing process.

Leverage and Family Firms

This chapter analyses the relationship between ownership structure and leverage, providing an integrated theoretical approach that combines traditional financial theories, agency theory, and recently developed theories relating to non-financial preferences. The results show that, after controlling for endogeneity, being a family firm has a positive effect on the propensity to incur debt. These findings add to the existing body of literature and underline the need for a multi-theoretical approach when explaining the capital structure of family firms. The authors apply panel data methodology to control for individual heterogeneity of family firms. The chapter uses a sample of Spanish firms operating in the tourism industry.

Factors Determining the Internationalization of Spanish Family SMEs

This chapter examines the factors determining international expansion for a group of Spanish family SMEs. Internationalization is modelled taking into account both the decision to enter foreign markets and the degree of internationalization. This chapter uses the information provided by the Survey on Business Strategies in Spain, including 1,519 observations. The results indicate that the presence of the second generation in the family firm, the establishment of alliances with other firms, and some intangible resources (in particular, product innovations, and human resources) all positively influence the degree of internationalization. The results also indicate that the size and age of family firms are important factors in determining their international expansion.

Family Firm Competitiveness and Organizational Ambidexterity

Long-term survival is one of the main goals of family business. Nevertheless, very few firms survive to the third generation. The concept of organizational ambidexterity could add insights into the explanation of family firm (FF) survival. In the literature, organizational ambidexterity is defined as the capability to explore new knowledge, processes, and opportunities while exploiting current ones to achieve a greater competitive advantage and ensure the survival of the firm. The aim of this chapter is to review the literature that analyzes relationships between FF specificities and organizational ambidexterity to propose a framework of the antecedents of ambidexterity in this context. This could be a useful tool to better identify FF specificities that will support long-term survival through their influence on organizational ambidexterity.

Which Competitive Strategy Fits Better to Different Family-Business Profiles?

This chapter belongs to the vein of research that analyses family firms from a configurational approach. This survey explores which combination of competitive strategy, environmental turbulence, family complexity, and family firm management and governance arrangements are present when firm performance is present. This research follows Le Breton-Miller and Miller's call to gain a better understanding of the interaction between competitive strategy, environmental conditions, and family firm features. Literature reports controversial results with regard to family-business strategic preferences and firm performance, and recent research shows that this relationship needs considering both industry and family context. This chapter analyses a sample of 129 Spanish SME-Family-Business that belong to the tourism industry. Using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis, the authors find seven configurations to firm performance presence and one recipe for performance absence.