The influence of family business size on management activities, styles and characteristics (original) (raw)
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Journal of Family Business Strategy, 2011
Despite considerable progress made using systems and configurative approaches in family business research, current knowledge remains limited on how different combinations of organizational attributes determine relevant outcomes and, therefore, how family affects businesses. To address this question, we focus on the overlap between family and business at management and governance levels. We posit that family- and business-oriented decisions emerge in four areas: board of directors, succession, human resources, and strategic process. This argument allows us to conceive three ideal types of family firms that yield maximum family firm performance, by considering the way that family firms adjust their orientations in their decisions. Building on a sample of 732 privately owned Spanish family firms, we propose the following main hypothesis: the greater the similarity of a family firm to an ideal profile, the better its performance. Our main results show that family firms can achieve successful business results by using a combination of family and business orientations in their decision making.► Research questions: How are family businesses managed and governed from the standpoint of the family-business relationship? And, how do different combinations of management and governance affect family firm performance? ► Our typological model of family business is inspired by essence perspective which asserts that the family's influence on the firm creates certain specific ways of acting. ► We used an empirical method to analyze the proposed typological model. ► We found that business performance can be achieved by different ways, i.e. different horizontal fits.
Family‐member and non‐family‐member managers in family businesses
Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 2009
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate, in a multi‐country context, the inclusion of family‐member managers and non‐family‐member managers in family businesses, and the relationship of this variable to certain management activities, styles and characteristics.Design/methodology/approachThis four‐country study involved survey research and correlational testing of nine hypotheses. The four countries, Croatia, France, India and the USA, provided a mixture of entrepreneurial contexts. Given limited prior research in this area, this study is exploratory and broadly focused.FindingsThere was limited support for the relationship between the percentage of non‐family‐member managers and the nine management activities, styles and characteristics studied, both between and within countries. The strongest support was for the positive relationship between the percentage of non‐family managers and the use of sophisticated financial management methods.Research limitations/implicationsIn...
A Literature Study on Family Business Management from 1990 To 2012
IOSR Journal of Business and Management, 2013
Economic liberalization and rapid expansion after 1990 leads to an industrial base in recent years have not only created growth opportunities for many but also have tested their resource capabilities to respond to them; some have chosen to follow the role of a custodian of their existing wealth and followed the preservation route, while some others have followed more of an entrepreneurial route of exploiting opportunities with or without relevant resources, with mixed results. One of the key resources for all of them is their family, and their prime concern is wealth and welfare of their family. A major dilemma many of them have faced particularly in the last two decade since economic liberalization began is to choose between combinations of risks and returns of business growth and conservation of wealth of the family. Family as a social institution is one of the oldest surviving (Goode, 1982), but only in recent years family business, an important arm of it started receiving academic attention. This article reviews the literature on family business management In general; this literature is dominated by descriptive articles that typically focus on family relationships. However, the literature does not usually address how these relationships affect the performance of a family business. We also identify some of the key issues and gaps that should be explored in future studies if research is to contribute to improving the management practices and performance of family firms I.
Specific Features of Family Businesses: A Contribution to Literature
Financial Environment and Business Development, 2016
The family business represents a subset of the whole range of enterprises, and, therefore, it has all the essential requisites of them. However, it is characterized by the strong relationship with one or more families which, by providing the risk capital, constitute it. Consequently, its functionality strictly depends on the evolution through which these family units go and on the decisions that they make inside of them. Italian and international scholars had devoted particular attention to small-and medium-sized businesses, often considered as transitional phases for a dimensional development of the enterprise. The empirical evidence has actually disproved these assumptions, leading to the conclusion that even small-and medium-sized businesses can achieve high levels of success without necessarily increasing their dimensions. Starting from the eighties of the last century, business studies have considerably developed in this respect. The family business has now assumed an important role in the national and international scene, thus attracting an increasing interest in the theoretical and empirical research. The wide and rich literature on family businesses has highlighted a variety of topics, such as the understanding of the success and development factors of family businesses, the peculiarities of their management models, their corporate governance, their valuation, and, generally, the specificity of small-and mediumsized businesses. Today, a definition of a family business, which is unanimously accepted by the scholars of the field, is nonexistent. Therefore, this work aims at identifying those aspects, which are typical of a family business. Moreover, the abovesaid paper highlights too some other aspects, useful to identify family businesses from nonfamily ones. Finally, the paper wishes to examine how the identified variables (such as the ownership, dimensions, succession, and involvement of family members) affect the family business performance.
International journal of applied research, 2020
This study explores some of the unique challenges family managers of privately held, family-controlled businesses face, including dealing with impartiality among family members. This research project focused on case studies of small, privately-held family firms that typically arise from a sole proprietorship to include firms with multiple family members. The methods used for this study included personal interviews, direct observation, and analysis of public information regarding the case study subject firms. An interview process was established that consisted of specific questions regarding the topics of interest discovered during the review of the literature section. One or more individuals in each firm were asked to answer the interview questions, including the open-ended questions to allow the subjects to provide their perspective. Individuals interviewed consisted of family members and non-family employees. The data indicates that family-owned firms have dynamics that differ fro...
Harvard Deusto Business Research, 2021
This research explores in greater depth the importance of considering the heterogeneity between family businesses so as to better understand the differences in their strategic behavior, performance and business results. With this, we attempt to contribute to the theories on the relationship between corporate governance and strategic management in the field of family business research. Our study identifies the different configurations that may be adopted in the ownership structures and the management and governance bodies of family firms, analyzing how these configurations are related to the firm’s strategic outcomes. Using a sample of 111 family firms, we perform a cluster analysis that allows us to determine distinct types of family businesses based on a set of dimensions regarding the characteristics of their governance bodies, both in business and in the family, as well as their ownership structure and degree of family involvement in management tasks. We then link the different t...
Oman Chapter of Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review, 2013
This article deals with the whole concept of family-owned businesses and the impact that management activities have on the different types of leadership styles that is prevalent within family owned businesses. An attempt is made to provide a deconstruction of the theoretical underpinnings of leadership within the context of family-owned businesses. Ultimately the management process and activities of a family-owned business is a key catalyst for ensuring the survival of these businesses within a localised and globalised environment.
Strategic management of the family business: Past research and future challenges
Family Business Review, 1997
This article reviews the literature on family business from a strategic management perspective. In general, this literature is dominated by descriptive articles that typically focus on family relationships. However, the literature does not usually address how these relationships affect the performance of a family business. Taking a strategic management perspective, we outline a new set of objectives for family-business research. We also identify some of the key issues and gaps that should be explored in future studies if research is to contribute to improving the management practices and performance of family firms.
Family Business Ownership and Management: A Gender Comparison
Journal of Small Business Strategy, 2005
Whilefami(v.firms account.for an estimated 80 percent of all American businesses, and about one-third of these .fami(v businesses are owned by women, there has been minimal study of gender issues in family business ownership and management. In contrast to early (pre-1980) gender comparisons in management and entrepreneurship, this study .found general similarities and few significant differences in a variety of management activities and styles between.family businesses with at least half the owner-managers being women and those with less than half These.findings add to the limited and currently inconclusive body of knowledge regarding gender issues in family business, entrepreneurship, and management in general.