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Article
Publication date: 18 January 2016

Michael Braun, Scott Latham and Emily Porschitz

This paper aims to introduce a supplementary strategic mapping tool designed specifically for family businesses. The authors extend the popular tool of strategy maps into the…

4088

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to introduce a supplementary strategic mapping tool designed specifically for family businesses. The authors extend the popular tool of strategy maps into the family business arena to address potential misalignments arising from the family imprint on a business. The resulting family enterprise strategy map (FESM) aims, both literally and figuratively, to get internal stakeholders on the same page in their pursuit of family business objectives. Using the FESM, family managers can enhance strategy design and implementation, thereby increasing the viability and longevity of their enterprises for future generations.

Design/methodology/approach

The framework draws from previous work on strategic maps, from scholarly research on family businesses and from the authors’ experiences consulting with family enterprises. The framework addresses four distinct but interrelated perspectives requiring managerial attention: family business objectives, family alignment, family systems and family business foundation. The case of Mondavi Winery is used to illustrate the prescriptive value of the FESM.

Findings

The FESM is meant to be used cooperatively among internal stakeholders to tease out potential challenges that can hinder the effective design and implementation of a family business strategy. The FESM makes explicit the primary objectives of the family business, prompts stakeholders to voice professional and personal ambitions in the business and brings individual risk propensities to the dialogue. Systems and activities necessary for successful strategy implementation are also underlined in the FESM. Lastly, the framework helps to identify the strategic foundation that can be leveraged to achieve the family enterprise’s objective.

Originality/value

The value of the FESM is threefold. First, having family members and non-family managers engage in this activity can make known individual, family and non-family functions, desires and goals. In doing so, the FESM also effectively highlights misalignments among and between various internal stakeholders that may otherwise go unnoticed. Second, the FESM draws management’s attention to specific family-related resources and capabilities within the company and, just as importantly, those that need to be cultivated to achieve strategic objectives. Third, the FESM can serve as a valuable reminder during those times when family systems begin to malfunction or to diverge from intended objectives.

Details

Journal of Business Strategy, vol. 37 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0275-6668

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 September 2014

Martin R.W. Hiebl

This paper aims to shed light on the potential downsides of risk aversion in family firms. Moreover, it seeks to provide measures on how to balance risk taking and risk aversion…

1841

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to shed light on the potential downsides of risk aversion in family firms. Moreover, it seeks to provide measures on how to balance risk taking and risk aversion in family businesses.

Design/methodology/approach

The article first presents four “dark sides” of risk aversion in family businesses and then describes three groups of measures to balance risk aversion and risk taking. Both the dark sides as well as the measures to balance risk aversion and risk taking are derived from recent scientific research.

Findings

Family businesses may decrease risk aversion and foster risk taking and innovativeness by creating transparency on their risk profiles and including outside knowledge in the form of non-family managers, directors or shareholders. Moreover, properly educating and integrating younger family generations might also alleviate an overly high focus on short-term risk aversion.

Practical implications

Family business leaders might find the approach and findings presented in this paper helpful for securing the longer-term survivability of their firms and for improving innovativeness.

Originality/value

This article is among the first to deal with the dark sides of risk aversion in family businesses, which might endanger their longer-term survivability.

Details

Journal of Business Strategy, vol. 35 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0275-6668

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 September 1994

Karen Maru File, Judith L. Mack and Russ Alan Prince

There are increasing signs that business‐to‐business marketers aretargeting the 50 percent of all US companies which are family firms. Newtheory from the family business studies…

8774

Abstract

There are increasing signs that business‐to‐business marketers are targeting the 50 percent of all US companies which are family firms. New theory from the family business studies field creates a reasonable expectation that the buyer behavior of family firms is distinctive, but there has been, to date, no empirical validation of this hypothesis. This exploratory study of 124 businesses contrasts family and non‐family firms on four dimensions of purchasing and finds that family business engage in more protracted pre‐purchase search processes, and require more interaction with their providers but reward providers with higher propensity to engage in positive word‐of‐mouth behaviors and repurchase intentions. These findings are both consistent with emerging theory in the field and relevant to marketers to family businesses.

Details

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, vol. 9 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0885-8624

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 30 September 2011

Martin Stepek

The purpose of this paper is to outline issues regarding business support for family businesses in the UK. The paper is a commentary on the state of business support in the UK…

511

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to outline issues regarding business support for family businesses in the UK. The paper is a commentary on the state of business support in the UK, and also poses questions regarding the provision of education and training for owners, managers and advisors of family businesses.

Design/methodology/approach

This article is a commentary piece from a practitioner view about the business support provision for family businesses in the UK.

Practical implications

This commentary paper suggests that there are a number of gaps in business support provision for family businesses in the UK. It discusses the state of support for family businesses in other countries and highlights the influence that the media has on developments in this area. It also offers a number of recommendations regarding government support for family businesses and the professional development for family business advisors.

Originality/value

The paper provides an informed practitioner view of the state of family business support in the UK and as such is rare. It will be useful for academics, researchers and family business practitioners, policy makers and professional business advisors.

Details

Journal of Family Business Management, vol. 1 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2043-6238

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 September 2020

Vanessa Ratten and Paul Jones

The purpose of this article is to highlight new directions that are needed in family business research particularly in light of the covid-19 pandemic and changing societal…

1371

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to highlight new directions that are needed in family business research particularly in light of the covid-19 pandemic and changing societal conditions.

Design/methodology/approach

This editorial is a review of the main issues discussed in the special journal issue regarding family businesses at the macro, meso and micro level. This approach enables a better understanding about the future research and practical implications for family business in the new economy characterised by substantial changes resulting from the covid-19 pandemic.

Findings

The findings suggest that family business studies need to incorporate new industry and societal contexts that have not previously been examined in sufficient detail in family business studies. This includes focusing more on the sport industry that is characterised by many family businesses.

Originality/value

This editorial for the special journal issue is amongst the first to discuss the role of the covid-19 crisis in impacting family business.

Article
Publication date: 12 October 2015

Claire Seaman

The purpose of this paper is to consider one of the major, under-researched themes in rural studies – the business family. Acting as an economic bedrock and entrepreneurial…

9364

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to consider one of the major, under-researched themes in rural studies – the business family. Acting as an economic bedrock and entrepreneurial business base, families may support one or more businesses over varying time frames (Rouvinez, 2001).

Design/methodology/approach

By reviewing related literature, the paper aims to encapsulate some thoughts on this topic and to consider ways in which future work in this field might be directed.

Findings

Standing at the divide between entrepreneurship research, business research and research which looks at the family in a social paradigm, business families remain one of the under-researched areas which provide a vital function within rural communities (Getz et al., 2004, p. 3). One distinction drawn out within this paper is of the manner whereby a family business – defined here as a business with one or more family members where the owners perceive it to be a family business – stands in parallel to the business family. Difficulties in definition of the term family business (Sharma, 1996) have further complicated this distinction, but the importance of family businesses in a worldwide context is acknowledged (Poutziouris, 2006) alongside the need for further research in a UK context (Fletcher, 2002; Getz et al., 2004, p. 72). If the term family business is difficult to define, simpler definitions of the business family do appear: families with a distinct track record in portfolio or serial entrepreneurship but where the expertise is embedded within more than one individual.

Originality/value

Developing thinking around the interaction between families and the businesses they run is a vital development in regional development and of especial importance where agriculture.

Details

Journal of Family Business Management, vol. 5 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2043-6238

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 30 September 2011

Lorna Collins and Nicholas O’Regan

This editorial aims to provide an overview of the current state of research in the UK and proposes some future directions for research for family business scholars.

527

Abstract

Purpose

This editorial aims to provide an overview of the current state of research in the UK and proposes some future directions for research for family business scholars.

Design/methodology/approach

This article is an editorial with commentary about recent developments in understanding research gaps in the field of family business research.

Findings

The paper discusses the areas where future research in family business is required focusing on three levels: the organization; the individual; and the community.

Research implications

The paper suggests that there are many unanswered questions which merit further and future research.

Practical implications

The future of family business research is not in question. The paper posits that there are areas of study in family business which may particularly benefit from taking a cross‐disciplinary approach and suggests that family business researchers might consider exploring theory in the entrepreneurship, small business, sociology, economics and industrial relations areas to gain insights and support for theoretical development in family business.

Originality/value

This article highlights recent UK‐focused discussions regarding the future research directions and gaps in family business research. It suggests there are some emerging areas which require renewed focus particularly related to strategic decision making in family businesses from the organization, individual and social/community perspectives.

Details

Journal of Family Business Management, vol. 1 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2043-6238

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 October 2013

Martin R.W. Hiebl

This article presents the family business-specific benefits of taking a proactive approach to using management accounting practices and information.

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Abstract

Purpose

This article presents the family business-specific benefits of taking a proactive approach to using management accounting practices and information.

Design/methodology/approach

The (scarce) literature on management accounting in family businesses is used to discuss the obstacles and benefits of management accounting in family businesses. The benefits are presented using the three-circle model, which displays the family business system consisting of the three subsystems ownership, business and family.

Findings

For family businesses, the main benefits of (increasingly) using management accounting should lie in codifying tacit knowledge, preparing for family and non-family succession, facilitating more fact-based decision-making and alleviating the production of proper information of non-family investors and creditors.

Practical implications

Family business owners, as well as non-family managers in family businesses, might find helpful food for thought regarding how to establish or develop further the management accounting system in a family business.

Originality/value

This article is among the first to discuss the benefits of management accounting for family businesses.

Details

Journal of Business Strategy, vol. 34 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0275-6668

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 September 2020

Olivier Meier and Anne-Sophie Thelisson

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the major difficulties and challenges encountered during the crucial process of family succession. In this study, the authors list and…

651

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the major difficulties and challenges encountered during the crucial process of family succession. In this study, the authors list and analyze issues encountered by managers or by the CEO of a family business.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a single longitudinal real-time case study conducted over a period of 10 years in a French family business, this study identifies the challenges encountered during family succession. The authors were allowed to follow, over a long period, the planning of the CEO’s succession.

Findings

The authors identified six critical points in the succession process: planning succession development; favoring creation of financial value for the shareholders; investment policy, risk taking and time horizon of investments (growth); family employment policy (family private benefit); opening of capital and debt policy (external financing); and financing of capital reduction policy (external financing).

Originality/value

The paper highlights the difficulties, issues and questions encountered by an SME manager or by the CEO of a family business. The analysis gives insights into the deep nature of the family structure, by involving the notions of culture and organizations serving the performance of family businesses.

Details

Journal of Business Strategy, vol. 42 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0275-6668

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 March 2021

Isabel C. Botero and Tomasz A. Fediuk

Abstract

Details

Corporate Communications: An International Journal, vol. 26 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1356-3289

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