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This paper presents an organizational learning framework for reframing management practices within large bureaucratic organizations. Reviewing the relevant literature, the paper argues managers' control orientations and practices effectively stifle learning and personal development by severely limiting the ability of employees to exert control or change the nature of their work activities. To encourage organizational learning, a number of reframing tools are proposed The paper concludes by discussing how reframing tools may be used in conjunction with other psychoanalytic techniques to challenge and change managers' control orientations and practices.

The purpose of this paper is to test a conceptual framework explaining the role of relationships and trust in enabling the purchase of business advice by small business owner–managers from their external accountants.

The study uses a semi-structured interview approach with 20 small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) owners and accountants in London and Melbourne.

The interview data support the conceptual framework’s central proposition that relationships and trust, rather than being antecedents of demand for advice, are necessary conditions for enabling latent demand. SMEs with greater propensity to trust are more open to buying business advice but not necessarily from their accountant.

A limitation of the fieldwork is that it is based on a non-random and limited sample of accountants and SMEs.

Accountants in public practice can no longer assume that the already established relationships with their clients, developed while providing compliance services, will automatically lead SME clients to purchase business advice.

The paper contributes to the accounting literature by developing a conceptual model of relationships and trust that will assist the profession in better understanding the complex dynamics of the accountant–client relationship. The conceptual model distinguishes, for the first time, the antecedent factors of demand for business advice from the enabling roles of relationships and trust. Fieldwork interviews also yielded new insights into how SMEs’ decisions to purchase business advice are influenced by specific personality traits of SME owner–managers and additional antecedent demand factors not identified in the extant literature – economic conditions, environmental turbulence and business life-cycle.

Business advisory services are an emerging service category for external accountants in the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) environment. The purpose of this study is to investigate determinants of SME demand for business advice, drawing on the agency theory, relational marketing and resource-based literatures.

The study empirically tested theoretical predictions based on an Australia-wide survey of SMEs, in which 485 firms responded to a questionnaire.

The results show that the purchase of business advice is significantly and positively associated with the perceived competence of the external accountant, but significantly and negatively associated with length of the relationship. However, the authors observe a significant positive interaction between tenure of the relationship and competence. A unique contribution of this study is the development of the understanding of the combined role of the external accountant’s competence and the tenure of the relationship. The findings indicate that SMEs require time to verify whether accountants have the competence to provide business advice, suggesting that information asymmetry and uncertainty is minimised only after SMEs have nurtured relationships with their external accountants, and after they have developed some confidence in the competence of their external accountants. At the same time, the negative association with tenure suggests that when accountants are not perceived as competent advisors, SMEs purchase less advice over time.

The paper has important theoretical implications by augmenting agency theory, the relational marketing and the resource-based literature, and it clarifies which antecedent factors are important in explaining demand for business advisory services provided by accountants to their SME clients. In particular, the paper highlights the importance of the combined roles that the external accountant’s competence and tenure play in the SME–accountant relationship, highlighting how these two factors can overcome credence issues and ex ante information problems.

The findings have practical implications for government initiatives targeting support to SMEs, as the findings identify small firms and firms planning to grow as likely to gain the greatest benefit from external advice and support.

This study adds to the limited literature and scant theoretical discussions on the emergence of business advisory services that accountants provide to their SME clients by drawing on several theories to explain the determinants of business advice.

The study examines organization citizenship behavior (OCB) as a mediating variable between instrumental work values (IWVs) and organizational performance; and group differences between family manager and nonfamily manager for integrated models in family hotels. Data were collected from 189 hotels (n = 921) ranging from budget to three-star family hotels in Ghana using questionnaire administered conveniently. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Work value positively influences OCB and organizational performance of family hotels. OCB mediates the relationship between work values and organizational performance. The study also found significant support for group differences between family and nonfamily firms for IWVs and mediating effect of OCB on the relationship between IWVs and performance.

This paper provides a review of the academic literature on organizational structure (OS) in family firms, highlighting the contribution to knowledge and identifying research gaps and possible avenues for future research.

Different databases were used to search the relevant literature on OS in family firms, including Scopus, ABI/Inform Global, Business Source Complete, and Emerald Insight. The systematic literature review presents an analysis of 52 studies on OS in family firms.

The literature largely reveals inconsistent findings in terms of the characteristics and outcomes of OS in family firms. The majority of the studies (21) are either survey-based or employ a case study approach (18), with relatively fewer studies (8) being conceptual in nature. A large number of the studies (34) were conducted in developed countries, whereas only nine were undertaken in developing countries. Moreover, 23 studies examine characteristics of OS, 23 studies explore the outcomes, while 15 investigate the antecedents of OS in family firms. The characteristics of OS in family firms relate to the degree of centralization and formalization. The antecedents or factors affecting OS in family firms include cultural values, family influence, need for succession, and ownership and management changes. The positive outcomes of OS include legacy building, enhancing entrepreneurial orientation, and efficiency. The negative outcomes of OS include exploitation of fewer opportunities, maintaining the status quo, and adverse effects on sustainability initiatives.

Existing reviews generally explore the highest level of OS in family firms. The current review complements this debate and reviews OS in family firms from the perspective of the lower and operational levels. As such, the current review is both timely and relevant, as it identifies limitations of the available literature as well as suggests avenues for future research.

The four papers in this special issue on organizational learning discuss and synthesize the diverse literature on the reframing managers' control orientations to organizational learning framework, organizational communication systems and processes as the foundations for generating and deploying knowledge, relationships between organizational learning styles and strategy formulation, and relationships of different learning to different types of corporate venture and venture effectiveness.

This study presents the impact of Economic Policy Uncertainty (EPU)-induced Trade Supply Chain Vulnerability (TSCV) on the Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in India by leveraging the World Bank Enterprise Survey data for 2014 and 2022. Applying econometric techniques, it examines firm size’ influence on productivity and trade participation, providing insights for enhancing SME resilience and trade participation amid uncertainty.

The econometric techniques focus on export participation, along with variables such as total exports, firm size, productivity, and capital intensity. It addresses crucial factors such as the direct import of intermediate goods and foreign ownership. Utilizing the Cobb-Douglas production function, the study estimates Total Factor Productivity, mitigating endogeneity and multicollinearity through a two-stage process. Besides, the study uses a case study of North Indian SMEs engaged in manufacturing activities and their adoption of mitigation strategies to combat unprecedented EPU.

Results reveal that EPU-induced TSCV reduces exports, impacting employment and firm size. Increased productivity, driven by technological adoption, correlates with improved export performance. The study highlights the negative impact of TSCV on trade participation, particularly for smaller Indian firms. Moreover, SMEs implement cost-based, supplier-based, and inventory-based strategies more than technology-based and risk-based strategies.

Policy recommendations include promoting increased imports and inward foreign direct investment to enhance small firms’ trade integration during economic uncertainty. Tailored support for smaller firms, considering their limited capacity, is crucial. Encouraging small firms to engage in international trade and adopting diverse SC mitigation strategies associated with policy uncertainty are vital considerations.

This study explores the impact of EPU-induced TSCV on Indian SMEs’ trade dynamics, offering nuanced insights for policymakers to enhance SME resilience amid uncertainty. The econometric analysis unveils patterns in export behavior, productivity, and factors influencing trade participation during economic uncertainty.

To compete and to survive in this era of globalization, organizations, including family businesses, need to have competitive advantage, and innovation and internationalization are some of the ways to achieve this. This paper aims to analyze whether family businesses innovate and internationalize more than non-family businesses and further analyses the type of family businesses “age-wise” and “size-wise” that innovate and internationalize more.

The study is empirical in nature. The period of study is 11 years, from 2005 to 2015 (both years inclusive). The sample is chosen from Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) 500 index, a broad-based index in India, covering about 20 industries of the economy. The present study uses multiple regression models to find the innovativeness and internationalization of family businesses. The dependent variables are R&D (proxy for innovativeness) and FXINC (proxy for internationalization). The independent variables are FB (variable that defines whether a business is family business or non-family business); FBAGE (variable that defines the age of the family business); and FBSIZE (variable that defines the size of the family business). The other control variables used in in the study are TA (total assets), REV (revenue), CR (current ratio), QR (quick ratio), DER (debt-equity ratio) and RONW (return on net worth). Fixed effects model was used to understand the innovativeness and internationalization of family businesses. Both industry and year fixed effects were used. SPSS 20.0 version is used for the analysis. All results are heteroscedastic consistent using Breusch–Pagan test.

It is found that family businesses are more innovative and internationalized when compared to non-family businesses. The results are consistent with the resource-based theory where it is found that family businesses are entrepreneurial in nature (Salvato, 2004; Zahra et al., 2004; Kellermanns and Eddleston, 2006) which makes them more innovative. It was also found that within the family businesses, younger firms were more innovative and internationalized than older firms. This can be explained by the theory of “learning advantages of newness”, according to which younger firms are more flexible, eager to learn, have less internal resistance and are able to adapt to the changing environment much faster.

During the studies, the authors have found that there is no conclusive evidence on the innovativeness and internationalization of family businesses. Further, there are apparently negligible studies that analyze what type of family businesses, age wise (younger or older firms) and size wise (smaller or larger firms) use the strategy of innovation and internationalization to grow. The present study analyses the innovativeness and internationalization of family businesses when compared to non-family businesses and also studies the type of family businesses (age wise and size wise) that are more innovative and internationalized.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the relationships between congenital learning (CL) and realized absorptive capacity (RACAP) and tries to identify whether absorptive capacity impacts on international organizational performance (IOP) in today’s global business environment.

The research model and hypothesized relationships are empirically tested using the structural equation modelling approach, validated by factor analysis of 128 small medium enterprises (SMEs) in the UK telecommunications sector.

The findings suggest that, in order to achieve higher levels of RACAP, managers need to create and support a CL process. Furthermore, if an SME does not achieve the required RACAP then IOP is likely to deteriorate.

SMEs need to provide and support a learning process, which is customized and based on three sub-processes: first, the framework for transferring knowledge; second, the framework for transforming knowledge; and third, an open organizational context. Based on these results, transferring and transforming are important sub-processes but are not sufficient for updating congenital knowledge.