Types Of Family Firms Research Articles

Unternehmerische Ausrichtung in Familienunternehmen

This paper addresses the connection between corporate entrepreneurship and family businesses, with a particular focus on the construct of entrepreneurial orientation (EO). The main argument is that family firms represent organizational contexts that have specific characteristics with impact on EO. The article includes a review of key literature on EO that is used to define and discuss the family firm as context for entrepreneurial activities. Key themes emerging in the literature review are the roles of culture, dualities and resources as well as the importance of distinguishing between different types of family firms. It is also argued that it is relevant to look further into how “enterprising families“ that strive for trans-generational wealth creation attempt to develop and nurture a “family entrepreneurial orientation“ (FEO), a construct that addresses the entrepreneurial orientation of a family unit rather than that of a business unit. The article closes with a future research agenda.

Personalism, Particularism, and the Competitive Behaviors and Advantages of Family Firms: An Introduction

Fundamental assumptions of any theory of the family firm are that family firms will behave in ways that differ from nonfamily firms, and that the behaviors of family firms will also exhibit substantial variations. This special issue includes a set of articles and commentaries that study such differences. This introduction synthesizes these articles using the concepts of personalism and particularism. We argue that the set of articles contained in this special issue contributes to the literature by explaining how the ability and willingness of family firms to behave in an idiosyncratic fashion leads to advantages and disadvantages that distinguish between family and nonfamily firms and between different types of family firms.

Self–Serving or Self–Actualizing? Models of Man and Agency Costs in Different Types of Family Firms: A Commentary on “Comparing the Agency Costs of Family and Non–family Firms: Conceptual Issues and Exploratory Evidence”

Self–Serving or Self–Actualizing? Models of Man and Agency Costs in Different Types of Family Firms: A Commentary on “Comparing the Agency Costs of Family and Non–family Firms: Conceptual Issues and Exploratory Evidence”

The Board of Directors in Family Firms: One Size Fits All?

Boards of directors are governance bodies that serve important functions for organizations, ranging from monitoring management on behalf of different shareholders to providing resources. Board roles and characteristics vary widely among national cultures and, within each country, among different company types. Despite such variety, research on family business boards has been dominated by prescriptions and by the lack of an explicit recognition of family firm types characterized by different governance requirements. We argue that a contingency approach to defining board structure, activity, and roles offers useful guidance in understanding board contributions to family business performance. We develop a theory to show how board characteristics are a reflection of a family firm's power, experience, and culture makeup. This theory provides insight into descriptions of existing board choices and prescriptions for family firms interested in starting or adapting their board of directors.

Predictors of Entrepreneurship in Family Firms

This study investigates the main predictors of entrepreneurship in small and medium-sized family firms. Based upon literature review and a pilot case study, hypotheses are developed, relating several individual and organizational antecedents of entrepreneurship to three different family firm types. Most of the hypotheses are confirmed by an analysis carried out on a large random sample of small and medium-sized Swedish family firms. Further studies addressing the determinants of entrepreneurship in family firms and practitionersņ advice aimed at enhancing entrepreneurship in such companies would hence benefit from targeting their efforts on the specific family firm types they address.

Agency Relations within the Family Business System: an exploratory approach

Researchers use various definitions to describe the family firm. The characteristics of family firms that are stressed in each of these definitions are somehow related to family control. All characteristics together reflect a spectrum of family firm types along one core dimension: family involvement in the firm. However, it is more helpful to distinguish among family firms by using their precise type. Each particular family firm type is characterised by a set of agency relations within and between the family system, ownership system and the business system. This paper is a first attempt to apply the insights from agency theory on a highly simplified (reference) family firm situation where the father is full owner and the daughter manager of the family firm. Agency theory establishes the foundation for the optimal contract conditions between father and daughter. While real life is often characterised by bounded rationality and incomplete information, future research should help identify the “optimal contract” be‐tween the family/shareholders and management in various family firm types under these circumstances.

Family orientation in family firms: a model and some empirical evidence

Attention has been drawn recently to the differences which exist between family and non‐family firms, but Ward indicates that there are different types of family firms. More specifically, as Dunn puts it, “in some families it is evident that the business serves the family, as opposed to the family serves the business”. For some families in business, economic rationality dominates decision making, yet for others a “family first” ethos is to the fore, while a third group recognises the need to respond to economic and family considerations. In this paper firms which pay attention to both family and business are not investigated. However, Ward’s model of the characteristics of family firms is discussed and data based on a Scottish and Irish sample of 234 firms which put family first when business and family objectives clash, and 830 firms which focus on business objectives, are presented. Results suggest that the former exhibit several of the characteristics defined by Ward. This suggests that a considerable number of family firms may be lifestyle – as opposed to growth‐oriented businesses. These results have major implications for policy makers. If a substantial number of family firms differ from rational economic ventures by their methods of operation, then policy makers should be flexible with regard to the methods of intervention required to support this important section of the SME community. Policy issues in connection with family firms in Britain are considered in the light of our findings.

The Dynamics of Management Succession: A Model of Chief Executive Succession in the Small Family Firm

The author develops a model for analyzing succession plans in different types of family firms.