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1 – 10 of 772Zonghui Li and Douglas Johansen
Drawing on the resource-based view, this study aims to examine how family involvement in migrant-founded small businesses gives rise to distinctive resources that help these…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on the resource-based view, this study aims to examine how family involvement in migrant-founded small businesses gives rise to distinctive resources that help these businesses survive.
Design/methodology/approach
Using microdata from the 2007 US survey of business owners (SBO), this study uses logit regression modeling to test the hypothesized relationships.
Findings
Results show that small businesses founded by migrant entrepreneurs are less likely to survive and that family involvement weakens the negative relationship between founder migrant status and business survivability. In addition, the positive moderating effect associated with family involvement is further strengthened by the use of external/borrowing startup capital, thus migrant families founded small businesses with access to external capital have the highest probability of survival.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature on both migrant entrepreneurship and family business. This paper finds family involvement in the business, interacting with the founder’s migrant status, tends to create distinctive resource endowments that help to compensate for the resource constraints associated with migrant entrepreneurs. Such resource endowments may take the form of high levels of solidarity among migrant family members and the spanning role of the migrant kinship networks extended from the country of origin to the country of residence.
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The paper empirically investigates how family firms appropriate acquired resources to become more innovative in the context of merger waves. It draws on resource-based view and…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper empirically investigates how family firms appropriate acquired resources to become more innovative in the context of merger waves. It draws on resource-based view and the theory of first mover (dis)advantages to examine the implications of the timing of acquisitions on innovation in family firms.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses a panel data set of Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 manufacturing firms followed over a period of 31 years.
Findings
The study finds empirical support for the predictions that family firms are more able to utilize acquired resources better than nonfamily firms. Furthermore, targets acquired during the upswing of a merger wave are more valuable to family firms and associated with more innovation than for nonfamily firms.
Originality/value
The paper establishes that resources acquired during the upswing of a merger wave are more valuable, provide better resource synergies and impact innovation positively in family firms than nonfamily firms. Second, the paper makes an empirical contribution that family firms absorb external resources markedly differently and more efficiently than nonfamily firms. Third, the paper enhances a better understanding of the influence of family ownership on the relationship between acquisitions and innovation outputs.
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Kuntara Pukthuanthong, Thomas J. Walker, Dolruedee Nuttanontra Thiengtham and Heng Du
– The purpose of this paper is to examine whether and how family ownership enhances or damages firm value.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine whether and how family ownership enhances or damages firm value.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper studies a sample of Canadian companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) between 1999 and 2007 and apply multivariate regression with firm value as a dependent variable. The paper measures firm value as Tobin ' s Q and ROA based either on net income or EBITDA. The independent variables include family firm dummy and ownership percentage.
Findings
It is found that control-enhancing mechanisms which are often employed by family companies add value to companies. Furthermore, it is found that agency conflicts between ownership and management are less costly than those between majority and minority shareholders, suggesting that family ownership helps resolve the agency conflicts between ownership and management and in turn enhances firm value. Finally, it is found that family companies with founders as CEOs outperform those with descendants as CEOs.
Research limitations/implications
The paper studies Canadian family firms; as such, the sample size is not relatively large. Nonetheless, the results should be generalized as Canada is one of the largest markets in the world and have high integration with the rest of the world.
Practical implications
The results suggest investors should invest in family ownership firms.
Originality/value
The paper shows whether firm ownership increases firm value and the determinant of family firm value.
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Navneet Bhatnagar, Kavil Ramachandran and Sougata Ray
New venture (NV) creation is critical to the growth and long-term survival of business groups. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the NV creation process in family…
Abstract
Purpose
New venture (NV) creation is critical to the growth and long-term survival of business groups. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the NV creation process in family business (FB) context and examine the influence of familial socio-political considerations and dynamics on venture creation processes.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper employs a triangulation technique drawing from the extant literature, observations from 25 in-depth interviews of FB leaders and insights from two FB practitioners and abductive reasoning to theorize on the NV creation process and the influence of socio-political considerations and dynamics within family.
Findings
The results show that there are four distinct stages of the NV creation process in FB context. Familial socio-political considerations and dynamics greatly influence the NV creation process. These considerations and dynamics vary according to the socio-political clout enjoyed by the proposer. Leadership’s predisposition to the proposer and the proposer’s socio-political clout in the family determine whether an NV proposal leads to venture creation.
Research limitations/implications
The study extends NV creation literature by suggesting that in addition to the economic rationale, socio-political considerations play a critical role in venture creation decisions. Future research can validate the findings with quantitative analysis.
Practical implications
FB members must garner strong socio-political support for their NV proposal. FB leaders must ensure that their NV proposal evaluation and resource allocation decisions are not unduly influenced by the proposer’s socio-political clout.
Originality/value
The study views the NV creation process in FB context from the lens of familial forces at play. It identifies four distinct stages of the NV creation process and examines the role played by familial socio-political considerations and dynamics during each stage.
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Investigation of family firm radical innovation is burgeoning but far less prevalent than studies of family firm innovation in general. Concurrently, studies repeatedly report…
Abstract
Purpose
Investigation of family firm radical innovation is burgeoning but far less prevalent than studies of family firm innovation in general. Concurrently, studies repeatedly report that family firms exhibit mostly conservative and incremental innovation rather than more radical ones. This is unfortunate because without radical innovation, family firms risk a competency trap in which long-term competitiveness is lost to more innovative rivals. This situation has led to urgent calls among scholars to explicitly acknowledge the heterogeneity of family firm innovation and to understand the conditions for family firm radical innovation.
Design/methodology/approach
A systematic review of 51 papers categorized into four scholarly conversations build the foundation for a critical discussion of each line of inquiry.
Findings
The authors analyze 51 leading articles and identify four persistent theoretical positions: (1) RBV and capabilities, (2) agency and stewardship, (3) behavioral agency and socioemotional wealth, and (4) the ability and willingness paradox. The authors identify key research problems and research questions needing urgent scholarly and present a framework that captures their complementary and competing assumptions to enable rigorous future research.
Originality/value
To galvanize and spearhead future research efforts, this paper provides a critical analysis of our understanding of family firm radical innovation with a specific emphasis on the theoretical assumptions at the core of existing investigations and the eight most important research questions in need of answers.
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This paper aims to focus on a special group of people in family firms in China, the second generation who are returnees, and to study their impact on family ownership and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to focus on a special group of people in family firms in China, the second generation who are returnees, and to study their impact on family ownership and corporate entrepreneurship.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey data from China’s private enterprises in 2015 were used to test the hypotheses. Data were collected through a joint effort by the China Federation of Industry and Commerce and the School of Management of Zhejiang University. The authors used a stratified sampling method, and questionnaires were distributed to 12 provinces in East, Central and West China. Two sets of questionnaires were distributed and answered.
Findings
Compared with those family firms without second-generation returnees, the relationship between family ownership and corporate entrepreneurship is significantly enhanced in family firms that have second-generation returnees. Furthermore, compared with the second-generation returnees who stay overseas for a short time, returnees who stay overseas longer are more likely to promote corporate entrepreneurship.
Originality/value
This study explores the unique characteristics of second-generation returnees and explores these returnees’ impact on family ownership and corporate entrepreneurship in the Chinese context. This could generate a new value to the family entrepreneurship literature.
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Beata Agnieszka Żukowska, Olga Anna Martyniuk and Robert Zajkowski
Survivability capital is a unique resource resulting from the “familiness” constituting an inherent feature of family firms. Familiness represents the ability of family members to…
Abstract
Purpose
Survivability capital is a unique resource resulting from the “familiness” constituting an inherent feature of family firms. Familiness represents the ability of family members to reinforce the financial and non-financial resources of businesses facing threats to their economic existence. This work proposes and examines various dimensions of the survivability capital construct, verifying whether family firms expecting deterioration of their economic situation or problems with survival due to the COVID-19 crisis can mobilise sufficient capital to survive.
Design/methodology/approach
This article provides empirical evidence based on a cross-sectional online survey of 167 Polish family firms, conducted at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The method (scale) of survivability capital measurement was elaborated and validated using principal component analysis (PCA) and confirmatory factor analyses (CFA). Next, the mobilisation of the different dimensions of survivability capital was examined using PLS-SEM modelling.
Findings
The survivability capital of family firms is composed of two dimensions: internal (based on directly involved family members) and external (based on not directly involved family members). Family firms facing crisis-induced deterioration of the economic situation engage its internal component. Subsequently, family firms forecasting decreasing probability of survival during a crisis try to engage both the internal and the external components of survivability capital. Such behaviour is in line with the resource-based view as well as with the sustainable family business theory.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is one of the first studies to examine analytically the survivability capital construct. While previous studies mentioned the existence of survivability capital, this study attempts to introduce its various dimensions and test the mobilisation of survivability capital during the COVID-19 crisis.
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Amit Baran Chakrabarti and Arindam Mondal
The purpose of this paper is to ascertain the impact of family ownership on the entrepreneurial orientation (EO) of firms in an emerging market and the contingencies under which…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to ascertain the impact of family ownership on the entrepreneurial orientation (EO) of firms in an emerging market and the contingencies under which it is likely to be affected.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper adopted a panel data multiple regression using ordinary least square methodology on a sample of 51,972 observations belonging to 12,250 firms from India.
Findings
The study finds that family businesses have higher EO than non-family firms. However, it is likely to be affected during institutional transition due to environmental uncertainty. Furthermore, during institutional transition, there will be differences in the EO of family business groups and stand-alone family firms due to the former’s ubiquitous network-level resource advantages.
Research limitations/implications
This paper contributes to the literature on family business by reconciling the positive and negative views on the effect of family ownership on EO by arguing that the risk-taking behavior of family firms is contingent on the environmental conditions and the resource position of the firm.
Practical implications
This study will enable managers and other stakeholders to predict the entrepreneurial attitude of family-owned firms during environmentally stable as well as turbulent times.
Social implications
This study highlights the implication of institutional transition through reforms on a vital part of the economy. Policy makers have to be sensitive to repercussions on family business due to environmental turbulence.
Originality/value
This is one of the first papers that investigate the influence of institutional transition and the resource position of Indian family firms on their EO.
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Federica Pascucci, Oscar Domenichelli, Enzo Peruffo and Gian Luca Gregori
This article investigates the relationship between family ownership and export performance in the context of SMEs while also considering the moderating role of the financial…
Abstract
Purpose
This article investigates the relationship between family ownership and export performance in the context of SMEs while also considering the moderating role of the financial dimension and, in particular, financial constraints and financial flexibility.
Design/methodology/approach
We select a sample of 1,132 Italian SMEs to examine through an econometric analysis the role and impact of family ownership and the financial moderating variables being used on their export performance.
Findings
The results indicate that there is a U-shaped relationship between family ownership and export performance: the highest levels of export performance correspond to the lowest and highest family ownership levels, whereas when a mixture of family and nonfamily ownership exists, the performance suffers because of “conflicting voices” dominating strategic visions and approaches, harming the firm's export commitment. Moreover, the findings show that lower financial constraints and/or stronger financial flexibility improve the relationship between family ownership and export performance.
Research limitations/implications
Our findings show that the ownership structure is important for export performance; in particular, firms should avoid a mixture between family and nonfamily ownership because it is detrimental to export performance. Moreover, Italian SMEs need to develop sources of financing other than the banking channel, and policy makers should favour this process to overcome financial constraint problems and improve financial flexibility. Limitations concern the use of other econometric approaches and measurement variables to further investigate the connection between family ownership and export performance.
Originality/value
The present study enhances the comprehension of the complex relationship between family ownership and export performance by documenting the relevance of the level of family ownership and considering the moderating role of financial constraints and flexibility.
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Philipp Bierl and Nadine H. Kammerlander
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the process of family equity creation and its role for transgenerational entrepreneurship.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the process of family equity creation and its role for transgenerational entrepreneurship.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper combines a systematic literature review on family equity with conceptual theory building, resulting in a model of family equity creation.
Findings
The proposed model contains three phases of equity creation that ulitmately leads to transgenerational entrepreneurship: harvesting, institutionalization (via a single family office) and reinvestment.
Originality/value
This paper conceptually introduces the family equity creation model, which may serve as integrative framework for future research on transgenerational value creation by entrepreneurial families. The presented findings are of relevance for family entrepreneurship scholars, entrepreneurial families, as well as for practitioners.
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