Innovation In Family Firms Research Articles

Product innovation and firm's growth in family firms: a quantile regression approach

This study contributes to the recent empirical literature that deals with a firm’s innovation-performance relationship by investigating the effect that a product introduction has on a firm’s growth in a sample of Italian family-run enterprises. Using a quantile regression approach, we observe that innovation is crucial for high-growth firms, but only for those with low family influence on the process of decision making concerning the introduction of a new product.

Research on Technological Innovation in Family Firms

The purpose of this article is to review and systematize prior work on technological innovation in family firms and to open up an agenda to guide future research into this promising area. The study shows that family involvement has direct effects on innovation inputs (e.g., R&D expenditures), activities (e.g., leadership in new product development projects), and outputs (e.g., number of new products), as well as moderating effects on the relationships between these steps of technological innovation. The article uses theories applied in family business research (e.g., agency theory) to discuss opportunities for extending technological innovation frameworks by considering family involvement.

The innovativeness of family firms through the economic cycle

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to understand whether the innovative effort of organizations increases or decreases over time, especially when the competitive environment is changing, as has been the case in the current economic downturn. For this reason, the objective of this article is to gauge the possible differences in innovative behaviour between family firms (FFs) and non‐family firms (NFFs) when the business environment becomes increasingly hostile.Design/methodology/approachThe approach is a natural experiment study, which the authors use to analyse the possible differential behaviour of FFs in the recession context in contrast to the previous growth context. The empirical data for the present study were compiled through the Spanish sub‐sample of the European Manufacturing Survey's (EMS) 2006 and 2009 editions. To test the hypothesis the paper uses a matched‐pairs method that increases the comparability of the available data.FindingsFamily firms have a significant higher reduction of R&D in comparison to nonfamily firms. But contrary to some of the hypotheses, the other innovation dimensions have no significant differences, although most results indicate that family firms systematically and generally reduce their innovation more than NFFs.Originality/valueThis research contains two original features. First, the authors have been able to analyse the change in innovation behaviour of a comparable set of FFs and NFFs. The second relevant feature is the analysis of the specific interaction of FFs’ differential traits with the different types of innovation. The availability of detailed empirical data on innovation adoption enabled this study and is also one of its contributions. This research has also value since the results can be read as a challenge to existing approaches on the preferences and nature of FFs that have either a positive or negative effect on innovation.

Strategic innovation and new product development in family firms

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the relationship between the presence of the family variable within a business enterprise and the managerial factors affecting the success of new product development (NPD). This can be structured into three research questions: What is the relationship between the presence of the family variable within a business enterprise and the managerial factors affecting the success of NPD activities? How the managerial factors affecting the NPD process are faced in family firms? Which are the main differences (e.g. strengths and/or weaknesses) in dealing with the managerial factors affecting the NPD process between family and non‐family firms?Design/methodology/approachThe study employs a grounded‐theory and case‐study approach to investigate the relationship between the presence of the family variable within a business enterprise and the managerial factors affecting the success of NPD. The starting point is an in‐depth literature review on the managerial factors differentiating family from non‐family firms, and the managerial factors affecting NPD success. Then, a multiple case‐study on five Italian family firms and five Italian non‐family enterprises is conducted. The case‐studies lead to the development of an empirically grounded theoretical framework that outlines how the distinctive characteristics of family businesses are related to the managerial factors affecting NPD success.FindingsFamily firms clearly emerge as more long‐term oriented than non‐family enterprises. The long‐term orientation of family businesses vs non‐family companies seems to play a pivotal role in originating NPD projects with long‐term thrust. If a company is long‐term oriented it is reasonable to expect that it will put its long‐term vision in NPD programs, thus reaching a NPD long‐term thrust.Research limitations/ implicationsThe study advances research on strategic innovation and NPD in family vs non‐family firms. It develops new theory at the important intersection of family business and innovation/NPD research, filling a gap in the literature and providing justification and guidance for the design of more comprehensive studies. Future research could investigate and test the theoretical framework on a wider empirical base, using either qualitative or quantitative methods.Originality/ valueThe paper addresses the failure of innovation management research to recognize, embrace, and deliberately incorporate family firms. It therefore fills a gap in the literature and extends prior research by introducing specific propositions that are supported by the case data and originally integrating them in the general research stream on NPD and family‐firm characteristics. The originality of the study lies also in the fact that it appears to be the first comparative analysis on this specific topic involving both family and non‐family enterprises.

The Role of Behavioral Strategic Controls in Family Firm Innovation

This study investigates the role of behavioral strategic controls in the relationships between ownership, generational involvement and innovation in family firms. Drawing on social capital theory, we examine how family ownership and generational involvement influence the use of behavioral strategic controls, and how behavioral strategic controls in turn affect family firm innovation. We use multiple regression analysis to test our hypotheses in a sample of 124 managers from Taiwanese family firms. The results show that family ownership is significantly related to the use of behavioral strategic controls that, in turn, have a significantly positive effect on family firm innovation. However, the results also show that multi-generational involvement in a business is not significantly related to the use of behavioral strategic controls.

A Study of the Relationships Between Generation, Market Orientation, and Innovation in Family Firms

This study focuses on market orientation in family-owned firms. Market orientation is influenced by organizational characteristics and is at the same time a key antecedent of innovation. Since the generation in control largely shapes the family firm’s organization, the authors examine the relationships between the generation in control, market orientation, and innovation. Using regression analysis, the study demonstrates that later generations show a lower level of market-oriented behavior, that the positive relationship between market orientation and innovation is maintained in a family firm sample, and that the generation in control influences innovation through its influence on market orientation.

Innovation in family firms: an empirical analysis linking organizational and managerial innovation to corporate success

Family firms play a significant role in national economies worldwide, accounting e.g. for 85% of all enterprises in the OECD countries as well as for the majority of companies in Central Europe. Previous scholarly research on family firms has mostly focused on the question of how they differ from public corporations, describing family firms as being more conservative, less risk-raking, or reluctant to grow—in sum, as being less entrepreneurial than their non-family counterparts. Similarly, the existing literature often criticizes the lack of innovation in family firms. But since innovation has long been discovered as one of the key drivers to company success, it is surprising that its role in family firms has been mostly neglected in existing academic research so far. The aim of this article is therefore to study the role of (managerial and organizational) innovation in family firms compared to non-family firms on the basis of an empirical survey of 533 companies from Finland, using structural equation modelling (MPlus) for the statistical analyses.

Innovativeness in family firms: a family influence perspective

This paper investigates the relationships between family influence and family firm performance. Specifically, we investigate how generational ownership dispersion, family management involvement, and family member reciprocity affect firm performance. We also consider the moderating role of innovativeness. Our findings indicate that family firm influence can have both positive and negative consequences for family firm performance. Implications and areas for future research are discussed.

Are family firms fit for innovation? Towards an agenda for empirical research

Based on a comprehensive literature review, we seek to understand the readiness and ability of family firms to innovate and track the innovativeness of family businesses back to their characteristics as a basis for future empirical research. For this, we contrast the characteristics of family firms with the premises of innovation. The resulting profile of fit and misfit allows for the identification of aspects that both promote and hinder innovation in family firms. The identified aspects are condensed to a model which may be used to structure future empirical research on innovation in family firms.

Erratum to “A 10-Year Longitudinal Investigation of Strategy, Systems, and Environment on Innovation in Family Firms”

This article studies innovation in family firms ,fi lling in some gaps in existent literature. The research addresses the idea of shifting leadership, different mechanisms of facilitating communication, and the importance to the firm of technical progress, linking each to innovation. Shifting leadership is addressed through the longitudinal design. Communication mechanisms are monitored through two constructs: scope of information and timeliness of information. Technical progress is included in an environmental uncertainty factor technoeconomic uncertainty. The findings suggest that linkages between established family firms and innovation may be substantially stronger than currently assumed by many.

A 10-Year Longitudinal Investigation of Strategy, Systems, and Environment on Innovation in Family Firms

This article studies innovation in family firms, filling in some gaps in existent literature. The research addresses the idea of shifting leadership, different mechanisms of facilitating communication, and the importance to the firm of technical progress, linking each to innovation. Shifting leadership is addressed through the longitudinal design. Communication mechanisms are monitored through two constructs: scope of information and timeliness of information. Technical progress is included in an environmental uncertainty factor technoeconomic uncertainty. The findings suggest that linkages between established family firms and innovation may be substantially stronger than currently assumed by many.

Your Old Men Shall Dream Dreams, Your Young Men Shall See Visions: Toward a Theory of Family Firm Innovation with Help from the Brubeck Family

Despite significant advances, a conspicuous gap remains in family business research concerning the practice of innovation in family firms. After reviewing innovation and family business literature, we offer coarse- and fine-grained conceptualizations of intergenerational innovation in the family enterprise. Given the fine-grained distinctions inherent in our resulting definition of family firm innovation, we move on to an in-depth study of one family involved in the innovative activity of jazz improvisation. After offering our analysis of the core dynamics apparent in this family's interactions, we conclude this paper with a research agenda for future work on family firm innovation.