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Peer groups have been established as one of the best tools for leadership learning for family business leaders. However, these groups remain underutilized because business leaders disengage and voluntarily create turnover from these groups. This study explores the perceptions of family business leaders concerning the usefulness, growth opportunities, and equity within peer learning groups to determine what factors impact retention in these groups.

Two surveys were administered to 321 family business owners and leaders through three large family business centers in different regions of the United States. Leaders were grouped into those who left versus those who remained in a peer learning group. Data were collected about their learning experiences and why they remained or voluntarily left a group.

Lack of equity was found to be the main determinant of turnover in peer learning groups. Peer learning groups need to consist of business owners along the same trajectory, career stage, and in similar stages of growing a family business in order to equally contribute to the group’s learning. Business leaders who are in peer learning groups they report as being equal also report that their groups are more helpful, trustworthy and create better-quality learning experiences.

Peer groups are important for peer-to-peer learning and continued education for family business leaders. Having a group of peers whom have dealt with similar issues can help business leaders overcome problems successfully. However, little research exists that examines what factors make these peer groups successful.

Drawing on the time compression diseconomies perspective and business network theory, this study examines how the international expansion of a business group’s pace, scope and rhythm affects its performance.

Panel data (1999–2013) from the top 100 Taiwanese business groups investing in globalization were collected.

The results show that international pace and rhythm have an inverse U-shaped relationship with business group performance, while the relationship between international scope and business group performance is U-shaped. This study highlights that international expansion is multidimensional and nonlinear and that the factors that shape nonlinear relationships between international processes and performance are different. Furthermore, family group involvement positively moderates the link between international scope and performance and negatively affects the relationship between international pace and performance. However, no significant effect is observed between rhythm and performance. High family business group involvement mitigates the impact of outsiders’ liability and managerial costs; moreover, it enhances the positive effects of location-specific advantages and business network resources.

This study combined the time compression diseconomies perspective and business network theory to explain why and how internationalization may not always lead to good performance by examining the effects of different international expansion processes and the interactive effect of family group involvement.

This study aims to examine the impact of geographical and business proximity between parent companies and affiliates on R&D investments in business groups. Furthermore, it compares the moderating effect of value chain participants’ bargaining power and the performance-aspiration gap.

This study uses data from 411 Chinese private manufacturing listed firms affiliated with business groups. This paper conducts regression analysis using Stata 16.0 software. Additionally, this paper employs combined random effects regression models, the 2SLS method and GMM method.

Geographical distance between focal affiliates and parent companies is negatively related to focal affiliates’ R&D. The higher the business proximity between focal affiliates and parent companies, the more R&D investments are made. Further research shows that with stronger bargaining power and a wider performance-aspiration gap, the negative relationship between geographical distance and R&D investment weakens.

This study contributes to the R&D investment literature by offering a novel perspective on why proximity influences affiliates’ R&D investments in Chinese business groups. This study enriches the proximity theory by introducing business proximity as a new dimension into the framework. Furthermore, this study highlights the boundary conditions of the proximity theory by ascertaining the moderating effects of bargaining power and the performance-aspiration gap.

This paper aims to examine the role of corporate governance (CG) in the earnings management (EM) of affiliated companies in family business groups (FBGs) listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), using principal–principal agency theory.

The sample of 327 nonfinancial firms of the PSX, consisting of 187 group-affiliated firms and 140 nonaffiliated firms has been used in this study for the period of 2010 to 2019. The study uses different regression models for analysis, with robustness tests of various alternative measures of EM and FBG affiliation. In addition, endogeneity is controlled with the propensity score matching method.

The findings show that EM is less prevalent in affiliated firms compared to nonaffiliated companies. The results show a negative and significant relationship between FBGs affiliated firms and EM. Moreover, the results also show a positive relationship between EM and the interaction term of the CG index and group affiliation. It refers to the fact that effective governance cannot reduce EM in affiliated companies of FBGs as well as in the nonfinancial companies of the PSX. In addition, the quality of CG is higher in affiliated companies compared to its counterpart in nonaffiliated firms. The findings support the principal–principal agency theory that CG cannot mitigate the expropriating behavior of controlling shareholders against minority shareholders by reducing EM in emerging markets due to the ownership concentration phenomenon.

This research study has implications for small investors, government agencies and regulators. The findings of the study show that CG code should make it mandatory for companies to reveal information about their complex ownership structure and ownership information about affiliated companies and directors. Furthermore, it is suggested to revisit the code of CG in the Pakistani context of principal–principal conflict instead of the agent–principal explanation of agency theory based on Anglo–Saxon countries.

This research study has contributed to the CG and FBG literature in relation to EM in idiosyncratic settings of Pakistan. One of the prime contributions of the paper is the development of a comprehensive CG index. This research study used detailed, manually collected novel data on affiliated firms of FBGs in Pakistan.

This paper aims to trace Tata Group’s role in responding to disability in the decades immediately following India’s independence until the preliberalization period of the Indian economy, i.e. from the 1950s to the 1990s.

This study’s methodology entailed a historiographical approach and archival engagement at Tata Archives (Pune, India) of the company documents. Materials and records of the Tata Company between 1942 and 1992.

Adopting the corporate culture lens, the study findings show that Tata Group demonstrated an active prosocial corporate approach toward disability. In a period governed by the ideology of a state-dominated developmental approach, Tata Group’s initiatives were related to medical interventions for a wide spectrum of disabilities, rehabilitation and efforts to ensure persons with disabilities (PWDS)’ livelihood.

Disability, in the neoliberalized economic landscape of India, is an emergent business issue for companies espousing workplace diversity. The historical understanding of business engagement with disability from postindependence to liberalization in India remains, however, limited. In postindependence India, the passive business response to disability emerged within an ethical and discretionary framework, with charity and philanthropy as the main modes of engagement. In this background, this paper explores Tata’s response to disability and PWDs, which was distinct.

This study aims to investigate the presence of the audit partner ethnicity on audit fees within the Indonesian context.

The sample consists of 803 firm-year observations from the Indonesia Stock Exchange during the period of 2014–2018. The study uses fixed-effect regression analysis to examine the relationship between audit partner ethnicity and audit fees.

This study reveals that firms audited by audit partners from the main ethnic group demonstrate lower audit fees, indicating a more extensive audit business network for this particular group of auditors compared to those from minority ethnic groups. Particularly, the study finds that firms audited by audit partners from the three largest ethnicities, namely, Balinese, Javanese and West Sumatranese, are associated with lower audit fees compared to others. These findings further contribute to the existing narrative and literature that highlight the ethnic background of audit partners as a form of social capital that influences lower audit fees.

This study provides valuable practical and academic implications regarding the impact of audit partner ethnicity on audit fees. The findings highlight the importance for audit firms to strive for a balanced representation of ethnic diversity in their auditor characteristics, as it can positively influence both governance and marketing strategies. By recognizing and addressing the significance of ethnic diversity among audit partners, firms can enhance their overall effectiveness and success in the auditing profession.

This study makes a unique contribution by providing empirical data on audit pricing theory in Indonesia, specifically focusing on the role of ethnic diversity as a determinant of audit pricing. Previous research has not extensively explored the connection between auditor ethnicity and audit fees, particularly in relation to the business network as a channel mechanism. The theoretical explanations for the fee differentials have also been limited in prior studies. The current study addresses this gap by offering a theoretical basis that highlights the advantage of the dominant ethnic group in establishing an efficient audit market system. Consequently, these auditors are able to charge lower fees to clients without compromising on the quality of their services. This finding aligns with the existing literature on audit fees and underscores the importance of the main ethnic group in fostering an effective audit market, resulting in lower audit fees compared to mixed audit markets.

This paper aims to examine whether family business groups’ (FBG) having the same network auditor among their affiliates mitigates earnings manipulation (EM).

This paper used unbalanced panel data from the years 2010–2019. The sample of the study is composed of 327 nonfinancial listed Pakistan Stock Exchange firms, consisting of 187 FBG-affiliated firms and 140 nonaffiliated firms. The ordinary least square and generalized least square regressions have been used to check the hypothesized relationship. Furthermore, the propensity score matching technique is used to ascertain comparable companies’ features and to control the potential endogeneity problem. Finally, the results are robust to various measures of EM and FBG’ proxies.

The findings of the study show that the same network auditor is reducing EM in FBG affiliates. In addition, the BIG4 same network auditors are also instrumental in constraining EM as compared to non-BIG4 audit firms. Overall, the results of this study depict that the same network auditor in FBG’s affiliated firms significantly influences EM. These results are robust with respect to generalized least squares and the endogeneity problem.

This research study has two important implications for the interested parties. First, although the authors find in this research study that the same network auditor is negatively associated with EM in the FBG-affiliated firms, however, FBG-affiliated firms might use opportunistically the real activity manipulation. Second, regulators highlight the change in audit partner/firm rotation, though the study findings indicate that regulators and practitioners may consider the benefits associated with the same network auditors for FBG.

This research study adds a new investigation to previous literature by examining the role of the same network auditors in the EM of the FBG’ affiliates. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to bring new knowledge by investigating the role played by the same network auditors along with the BIG4 same network audit firms in constraining EM in FBG.

This study aims to report business preferences for achieving net-zero power production emissions in Saskatchewan, Canada as well as business perceptions of the most preferable power production sources, barriers to change and suggestions for improvement. Mixed methods included focus groups and a survey with experimental design. This research demonstrates that this method of advancing academic and business knowledge systems can engender a paradigmatic shift to decarbonization.

The study is a mixed-methods study using five focus groups and a survey which included a 15-min information video providing more information on power production sources (small modular reactors and biomass). Participants requested more information on these topics in the initial three focus groups.

There is a significant gap in Canadian Government targets for net-zero emissions by 2050 and businesses’ plans. Communications, knowledge and capacity gaps identified include lack of regulatory requirements, institutional barriers (including a capacity charge in the event a business chooses to self-generate with a cleaner source) and multi-level governance dissonance. More cooperation between provincial governments and the federal government was identified by participants as a requirement for achieving targets. Providing information to survey respondents increased support for clean and renewable sources, but gender and knowledge are still important characteristics contributing to support for different power production sources. Scientists and teachers were the most trusted sources of information. Power generated from small modular nuclear reactors was identified as the primary future source of power production followed by solar, wind and natural gas. Research results also confirmed the high level of support for hydropower generated in Saskatchewan versus import from Manitoba based on high values of energy solidarity and security within the province.

This study is original, as it concerns upstream system power production portfolios and not failed projects; the mixed-method research design including a focus group and an experimental survey is novel. This research partially addresses a gap in knowledge surrounding which knowledge systems advance paradigmatic shifts and how and whether involving business people in upstream power production decisions can inform decarbonization.

This study aims to investigate the supplier selection criteria, relationship quality and level of collaboration in Asian food businesses, while also examining the link between these practices and business performance. The research focusses on food manufacturing and exporting companies in two emerging economies, China and Vietnam.

Food manufacturing and exporting companies in two emerging economies – China and Vietnam were surveyed and analysed to extract factors that reflect supplier management and business performance along with their relationship by factor analysis and hierarchical regression. Then, a two-step cluster analysis was applied to identify clusters based on supplier management and explore how different business performance groups manage their suppliers.

Four clusters that are distinct sets of food firms with detailed references about their typical characteristics revealing their business performance and supplier management practices. Also, the study confirms that certificates, reliability and inspection results constitute the factor of quality-related criteria for food firms. It is an interesting insight into what firms prioritise in selecting and maintaining collaboration and relationships with suppliers that reflect actual demanding specifications for supplier conformity.

The study reveals the business status of the studied companies and each group's specific references, such as the criteria they prefer to select suppliers, the relationship quality and the level of collaboration.

The study is a useful reference for both researchers and practitioners to have a comprehensive view of supplier management in the food industry based on the viewpoint of Asian food manufacturers.

After completion of the case study, students will be able to understand key stakeholders’ current and future role in a family business using techniques like Gersick 3 Axes Model, understand the power dynamics in a family business, understand the power struggles seen in the family business and understand the challenges in the implementation of a deed of family settlement (DFS) with multiple stakeholders.

Kirloskar group was established in 1888 by Laxmanrao Kirloskar. He started with farm manufacturing equipment and later diversified into various kinds of engine manufacturing units. Kirloskar Group today is an Indian conglomerate multinational company with its headquarters in Pune, Maharashtra; India exports to more than 70 countries, most of which are from Africa, Southeast Asia and Europe. The group was managed as a cohesive unit until Chandrakant Kirloskar was at the helm as the chairman. Each brother’s family was managing a business and companies in the fold in which they started. The Kirloskar Group had first split in 2000 when Bengaluru-based Vijay Kirloskar (Ravindra Kirloskar’s son, fourth son of Laxmanrao Kirloskar) moved out of the group with Kirloskar Electrical while the Pune-based Kirloskar brothers moved out with Kirloskar Oil Engine Engines, Kirloskar Brothers, Kirloskar Pneumatics and related subsidiaries. In 2009, a DFS was signed among the family members, including a noncompete clause against each other regarding the usage of the Kirloskar brand name and the tagline “Kirloskar Enriching Lives.” The current dispute started in 2020 when first Vijay filed a suit against his nephews regarding illegal usage of the Kirloskar brand name for the companies not eligible to use it and second when Sanjay Kirloskar also filed a similar lawsuit against his brothers for illegally using the brand name and violating the noncompete clause. The high court, in its judgment, sent the case for arbitration, but Sanjay approached the Supreme Court of India regarding the stipulated arbitration process. With both sides taking a hard stance, there did not seem to be a quick resolution to this dispute.

This case study is suitable for both undergraduate and postgraduate level in entrepreneurship course and family business course.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship

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