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This paper compares the family characteristics and work cultures of family businesses in Anglo, Southern Asia, and Confucian Asia cultures. Using the GLO BE classification and findings, the Anglo cluster of nations is distinguished by its strong performance orientation but weak family orientation. The Confucian Asian cluster is characterized by a strong performance and family orientation, and strong institutional collectivism. The Southern Asia cluster is distinguished by a strong family and humane orientation – a hallmark of its deep community orientation. Results indicate differing patterns in terms of the involvement of the family in the family business and other key organizational dimensions, although all three cultures share contextual embeddedness. The two Asian regions are similar only in terms of their high operational resiliency and business longevity, in contrast with the Anglo region, which is more moderate. For academicians, results suggest opportunities for examination of the impact of cultural and contextual differences on the relevance of prevailing theories of family business; for practitioners, results provide insights for global family business practice.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the varying ideologies guiding the cultural dimensions of family business and to examine the cultural sensitivity of these varying ideologies.

The research relies upon the CASE framework of nine cultural dimensions of family business. First, the literature pertaining to varying ideologies associated with each of the family business cultural dimensions is reviewed to form a conceptual analysis. Second, hypotheses are generated regarding the anticipated relationships between the two major dimensions of societal culture (power distance and in‐group collectivism) and the nine family business cultural dimensions. Data from the GLOBE program and the CASE project are then used to conduct non‐parametric tests.

The nine family business dimensions are shown as ideologies intersecting three systems of family business (family, business and social) and three social interaction elements (structural, relational and cognitive). Empirical support is found for the cultural sensitivity of the family business dimensions, in terms of the two major societal culture characteristics (power distance and in‐group collectivism).

This work provides insights into a broader conceptualization of family business in an increasingly global context. By virtue of the cultures in which they are formed, nurtured, and grow, family firms are influenced by a number of ideologies. Ideological differences – both quantitative and qualitative – mean that the forms and formats of family businesses also differ, as a reflection of their ideological and cultural underpinnings. In particular, it is useful to consider how family businesses differ, depending on their proportional support for the family, business and social system ideologies.

Family businesses must be examined within the cultural contexts in which they are bred, nourished, and grown. According to Chrisman, Chua, and Steier (2003), family businesses are launched for reasons other than the desire for dollars and cents (or rupees and yen). In fact, the authors note, “Family businesses… bring together so starkly the economic and non-economic realities of organizational life…” (2003, p. 442). Calls for family business research that extend beyond traditional geographical boundaries to include global comparisons have been issued by Hoy (2003) and others. Fortunately, recent developments in cultural assessment and measurement methodology have provided tools to enable a better understanding of families and family businesses vis-à-vis the use of regional clusters and comparative lenses (Gupta & Hanges, 2004). Gupta and Hanges (2004) note three clusters of the Catholic ethic: Southern (or Latin) Europe, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. As shown in Table 1, more than three-fourths of the population in these clusters follows the Catholic faith. In this study, we examine the spirit of family business in these three clusters.

E‐business adoption among small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) has been limited because of resource constraints and a failure to understand the strategic value of e‐business. To facilitate decision making concerning e‐business applications and their implementation, simple, low cost tools are needed to assist in analyzing and developing effective e‐business strategies. This paper aims to evaluate the use of e‐business applications among SMEs, to test the robustness of importance‐performance (IP) analysis models and to present IP mapping as a resource/tool for decision making.

A total of 19 e‐business motivations were identified from the literature and incorporated into a self‐administered survey questionnaire. Data were collected from 439 SMEs located throughout the US.

Most IP studies have assumed that importance and performance are independent; however, three recent studies have argued otherwise, identifying positive, negative and v‐shaped relationships. The study finds a fourth, N‐shaped relationship between importance and performance. This is an extension of the v‐shaped relationship and appears when the full range of performance scale values is displayed.

The relationship between the “importance” and “performance” variables suggests a path of travel that can help show the e‐business adoption states and the possible undulations in e‐business strategies along the path. Firms can identify their location on an IP map relative to the N‐shaped path and then identify the path to the optimum location on the map.

This paper should be useful for academic researchers and business practitioners seeking guidance in terms of which e‐business applications to adopt and implement.

To assess the patterns of market orientation within the small business sector.

After a pilot study involving interviews with owner‐managers, and covert and overt observation of small businesses' marketing practices, depth interviews by telephone and face‐to‐face were conducted in one state of the USA. Data, collected in the form of protocols and means‐end maps for individual owner‐managers, were analyzed by inductive reasoning.

The study confirmed the appropriateness of the market orientation framework for the small business sector. Findings included a distinctive “marketing style” (strong emphasis on customer care and employee welfare; motivation; and market intelligence) related to size of the firms surveyed, the personality of the owner‐manager, the available resources and the nature of the operating environment. Despite absence of a formal approach to market research and marketing planning, this “style” was found to have a positive effect on margins and market share.

Future studies could usefully investigate larger samples in broader geographic settings, including countries at all stages of economic development. It should also examine causal links among the “constructs” of market orientation.

The findings provide small business owner‐managers, policy makers and researchers with a framework for the measurement and evaluation of market orientation in small businesses, which could be adapted to specific conditions or used as a source of performance benchmarks.

This paper offers useful and candid insights into the application of market orientation by small businesses, distilled from in‐depth investigation of the motivations underlying respondents' marketing decisions and initiatives. It thus supplements the largely quantitative studies of market orientation in the literature to date.

The importance of using the internet to achieve competitive advantage has been well‐documented. An ever‐expanding array of technologies exist that enable firms to accomplish customer service online. Yet for many firms, determining which applications to employ can be perplexing. This study purports to examine the practices of service sector market leaders and measure performance results of adopting selected customer service applications. The aim was to identify inspirational targets and internet applications benchmarks among family owned businesses since for them, the importance of reputation may well hinge on providing outstanding customer service to the local community.

A six‐page self‐administered survey questionnaire was used to collect data from 374 family firms in West Michigan.

Findings suggest that while over 75 percent of firms use e‐mail to communicate with current customers and for customer service purposes, what distinguishes best practices is e‐mailing with prospective customers, targeting small or hard‐to‐reach markets, and adopting more sophisticated applications, including online product demonstration, ordering, delivery, and order tracking.

Since, this study focused on family firms in the service sector, future research opportunities could come from examination of the impact of family business‐related characteristics on customer service strategy and practices, and comparison across industry sectors or markets served (B2B versus B2C).

The paper should be useful for academic researchers and business practitioners seeking guidance in terms of which e‐business applications to employ.

The purpose of this study was to identify those factors that are supposed to be the most important in terms of small business success in tourism industry. The empirical data is collected within one region in Finland. The respondents were asked to evaluate the importance of the given factors for the firm's success and how highly the respondent evaluated the company's expertise in each factor in their operations. Questionnaires were sent by mail to a total of 214 tourism businesses. The final response rate was 43% (92 businesses). According to the analysis of the data, the respondents emphasise the importance of customer orientation, good skills in leadership, internal marketing and a good reputation of the firm and the product. The impact of external advice (incubators, consultants, research organisations) was evaluated as the least important factor of success. So, market orientation seems to play a key role in the performance of small and micro tourism firms. Customer orientation is also well mastered according to the businesses. The greatest development needs would be in the areas of price and accessibility, as well as in customer orientation. The results of this study indicate that there are no statistically significant differences in the views held by slowly or fast growing tourism businesses regarding the importance of the success factors. The same factors are considered important and less important in both slowly and fast growing businesses. Neither were there any statistically significant differences in these businesses as to the expertise in these success factors.