Small Family-owned Businesses Research Articles

Cash Flow Management Challenges Faced by Small Family-Owned Businesses in Zimbabwe

Cash flow management has increasingly become a concept of interest in the context of small family-owned businesses in recent years. It is worth noting that the growth rate of family-owned businesses has continued to rise in recent years. The research aimed to explore the cash flow management challenges faced by small family-owned businesses in Zimbabwe. The research philosophy of constructivism was employed as it was more appropriate for explorative qualitative study. With the adoption of a qualitative approach, in-depth interviews and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were conducted. The research was conducted on 12 owners of small family businesses from diverse sectors of the economy. Then, thematic analysis was applied to analyze data from in-depth interviews and FGDs. The results show that small family-owned businesses face a myriad of cash flow management challenges. Those challenges are poor payables and receivables management, inadequate cash balances, lack of financial experts, absence of cash budgets, bad debts, cash instability, and Unhu/Ubuntu culture. The research outcomes have practical implications for financial institutions and governments when offering financial management capacity-building workshops. Interestingly, the management of family businesses can make evidence-based decisions related to cash management practices and cash operating cycles. The research can immensely enrich the extant mainstream literature on the family business.

INFLUENCE OF CORPORATE SUCCESSION PLANNING AND GENERATIONAL CHANGEOVER IN FAMILY-OWNED ORGANISATIONS CASE OF FAMILY-OWNED HARDWARE TRADES IN HARARE CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT (ZIMBABWE)

The inquiry papyraceous sought after to determine the agent that persuasion succession planning and generational change in small family-owned ironmongery businesses in Harare Central Business District in the Zimbabwean capital metropolitan. Harare is the biggest city in Zimbabwe and has the highest multitude of recorded lineage owned businesses. By means of the Mixed Method Research (MMR) which was QUAN-qual, denotating that this meditation was primarily quantitative with a slender qualitative constituent. The researches patience was pragmatism and the investigation intend was figurative. A sample of 110 respondents was enact through layered random trypiece to take solicitude of the three categories of family-owned businesses namely: small, medium and large family businesses. One hundred and ten self-conduct questionnaire were issuance for fulfillment and 100 were revert practicable, giving a response rate of 90.9%. The questionnaire had mostly shu ppurpose items and a few obvious close article in protection with the QUAN-qual orientation. Data was analysed worn SPSS ver. 23. A multivariate regression analysis was impelled out and the findings were that: the age of the family business proprietor, straightforward of education, communication among family members, gender of business lord, involvement of family members in family employment progeny and size of the class office influence succession sketch and generational change in lineage-owned ironmongery businesses in Harare CBD. R-squared was calculate to determine the impact of these factors on lineage planning and generational turn. The research findings reveal that 65% of the variability in succession planning and generational turn possibly will be expound by the predictor variables enrolled immediately above. The inquiry ponder also found out that succession planning and generational change had the subsequent exchange: reluctancy of business owners/managers to relinquish control of the business; contestation of uncertainty and unknowns and contention within families. This investigation paper recommends that top management of family-owned businesses ought to disentangle comprehensive descent planning and generational strategies for continuity focussing on all the forecaster variables review in the contemplation. It was also recommended that further researches be done on other factors that affect race sketch and generational change in kindred-owned other than hardware businesses in Harare Central Business District. Since the question study was conducted in Harare Central Business District only, this require it toilsome to generalise the findings to the faithful rustic, hence, it is commend that future research should concentrate on a liberal scope of family-owned businesses in dissimilar industries preference food manufacturing , construction ,electronic computer software , hotel and agriculture sectors.

Investigating environmental sustainability in small family-owned businesses: Integration of religiosity, ethical judgment, and theory of planned behavior

This study aims to explore the environmental sustainability intentions of family-owned businesses in Fiji. We developed a conceptual model that extends the theory of planned behavior (TPB) by incorporating intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity and ethical judgment as moderating variables. We used a quantitative research methodology to collect data from 374 family-owned businesses in Fiji. We further tested the proposed model of this study using structural equation modeling. The empirical results showed that intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity positively influence the attitude of family-owned businesses toward environmental sustainability. Attitude and subjective norms were found to influence environmental sustainability intention positively. Furthermore, it was found that ethical judgment strengthens the positive relationship between attitude and subjective norms on environmental sustainability intentions. This study makes practical and theoretical contributions by giving insights into the drivers of the environmental sustainability intentions of family-owned businesses.

Leadership Succession and Sustainability of Small Family Owned Businesses in South East Nigeria

Despite the acclaimed contributions of small businesses to growth of various economies, Nigeria inclusive, majority of family-owned businesses are confronted with similar challenge in the area of business continuity. With the dynamic and turbulent nature of Nigeria’s business environment, increasing number of small family businesses operating in Nigeria have either shutdown or stopped operating at the retirement, incapacitation or death of the business proprietors/owners, owing to the absence of a clear succession plan, vision disconnect between the owner and the successor, lack of interest, requisite drive, technical knowledge and capabilities to manage the business prudently. Hence, this study investigates leadership succession and sustainability of small family-owned businesses in Anambra, South East Nigeria. The study employed the survey research design, carried out in Onitsha and Nnewi commercial and industrial hubs of Anambra State. The simple random sampling technique was employed to select sample of 298 registered small business owners. A five-point Likert structured 6-item questionnaire was adopted for data collection. The study employed Pearson Product Moment Correlation to determine the relationship between the dependent and independent variables. Also, the Paired Sample t-test was employed to verify the existence of statistical evidence proving that the mean difference between the paired observations in the hypothesis is significantly different from zero. The findings revealed that, mentoring and human capital development has significant influence on sustainability of small family owned businesses. The study therefore recommended that, family businesses owners should identify the successor early enough and adopt mentorship as a process to equipping the successor, who must however willingly show genuine interest and is not coerced into the business, and adequate time should be devoted for training of chosen successors, in order to equip them with relevant skills that will make their businesses survive beyond the present through several generations.

To What Extent Do the Investment Programs in the Small and Medium Enterprises Sector Comply with the Determinants of National Competitive Advantage?

The analysis of the researcher was corroborated by the expert opinion.In the interview researcher said that, the base is small and medium enterprises, the Palestinian economy is dominated by small and medium family-owned businesses: more than 85% of all establishments are owned by a single individual. Private and public shareholder companies and partnerships constitute less than 11% of all firms. The first and most important step is to establish governance in SMS & Establishing partnerships in shape of fund of funds, we have 6 funds, 60 million fund for industry, fund for agriculture, fund for microfinance, fund for Gazza, Jerusalem, fund convertible process, is not money wise but convincing the owners to change the way of working is the most impediment.According to Porter, competitive advantage results from the presence of world- class institutions that first create specialized factors and then continually work to upgrade them. Additional steps to be undertaken according to Mustafa, SMEs widen and open new markets and further invest in local markets and sponsor high-tech industries. The analysis of the researcher was corroborated by the expert opinion.In the interview researcher said that, the base is small and medium enterprises, the Palestinian economy is dominated by small and medium family-owned businesses: more than 85% of all establishments are owned by a single individual. Private and public shareholder companies and partnerships constitute less than 11% of all firms. The first and most important step is to establish governance in SMS & Establishing partnerships in shape of fund of funds, we have 6 funds, 60 million fund for industry, fund for agriculture, fund for microfinance, fund for Gazza, Jerusalem, fund convertible process, is not money wise but convincing the owners to change the way of working is the most impediment.According to Porter, competitive advantage results from the presence of world- class institutions that first create specialized factors and then continually work to upgrade them. Additional steps to be undertaken according to Mustafa, SMEs widen and open new markets and further invest in local markets and sponsor high-tech industries.

Strategy Communication in Family-Owned Restaurants: Ad Hoc and Ad-Lib

ABSTRACTMost New Zealand restaurants are small family-owned businesses, which could be expected to communicate their purpose, business strategy, and goals to their employees. However, this expectation may be at odds with the informal mode of a family operation. This exploratory study therefore examines the communication of strategies in family-owned restaurants to determine the likely impact of family ownership on strategy communication. Interview data from family business owners and employees indicate that communication was largely ad hoc, relating to tactics more than strategies, and that many owners lacked the skills needed to operate a profitable and successful business. The weak understanding of strategic business skills identified may explain the high rate of failures identified in the New Zealand restaurant industry.

The Affordable Care Act and Opportunities for Change in North Carolina’s Commercial Fisheries

ABSTRACT Commercial fishing is generally hazardous, but some types of commercial fishing are more dangerous than others. Since much of the fishing industry is composed of small family-owned businesses, commercial fishermen often have to rely on the private health insurance markets. Do commercial fishermen working in more dangerous areas or with more dangerous gear mitigate their risk by purchasing health insurance? I examine the relationship between the economics of the North Carolina commercial fishing fleet and private market health insurance purchases in the two years immediately preceding the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010. Establishing this baseline is important, as the slow implementation of the Act's expanded coverage will take time to make meaningful impacts on commercial fishing fleets. I close by considering which aspects of commercial fishing might be most affected by the ACA. JEL Codes: D78, H51, I100, I13, N52, Q22, Q28, Q58.

Current state, problems and trends of development of the Bulgarian hotel industry

The paper examines the development of Bulgarian hospitality industry after the changes in 1989, followed by substantial investment in reconstruction of privatized hotels and the construction of new modern hotel facilities with interesting architecture, exterior and interior design. Based on analysis of statistics, mainly for the period 2008-2015, it outlines the main issues regarding this development, namely, seasonality in the use of the hotel superstructure, low average income of nights spent, excessive construction of big seaside and mountain tourist complexes, relatively low quality of hotel services. It emphasizes the importance of international hotel chains entering the market, their influence on the Bulgarian hotel industry concerning applying best practices and new technology in hotel services. The result being enhanced quality and competitiveness of Bulgarian hospitality industry. The emergence of Bulgarian hotel chains and brands is indicated as a positive trend. The paper addresses the small family hotel business, and its trends of positive development. The advance of small family-owned hotel businesses is an important prerequisite for the development of alternative types of tourism in Bulgaria. The article examines the regulatory framework of categorization of accommodation establishments in the Republic of Bulgaria and the problems that arise in the process of categorization underlining the ineffecient government control over the quality of the hotel product. The strengths and weaknesses of the national hotel product are outlined and possibilities for improving its quality and competitiveness are suggested

The Affordable Care Act and Opportunities for Change in North Carolina's Commercial Fisheries

Commercial fishing is generally hazardous, but some types of commercial fishing are more dangerous than others. Since much of the fishing industry is composed of small family-owned businesses, commercial fishermen often have to rely on the private health insurance markets. Do commercial fishermen working in more dangerous areas or with more dangerous gear mitigate their risk by purchasing health insurance? I examine the relationship between the economics of the North Carolina commercial fishing fleet and private market health insurance purchases in the two years immediately preceding the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010. Establishing this baseline is important, as the slow implementation of the Act’s expanded coverage will take time to make meaningful impacts on commercial fishing fleets. I close by considering which aspects of commercial fishing might be most affected by the ACA.

How small family-owned businesses may compete with retail superstores

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the “perceptive concordance” – the proximity of perceptions of the business- between key managers and customers of two small family-owned and managed businesses (“FBs”) and two larger non-FBs in Cagliari, Italy as a preliminary basis for understanding how small retail businesses that are typically family owned have continued to compete and thrive in many Western European cities. Design/methodology/approach – The authors asked how small FBs have been able to compete in an advanced European economy despite apparent competitive disadvantages relative to large superstores selling the same products. In addressing this question the authors drew on a qualitative research methodology in which the authors interviewed senior managers and surveyed customers of the four businesses and applied an original statistical model to assess the degree of their perceptive concordance with over 100 customers of each business. Findings – The study's findings suggest a significant difference between key managers and customers of the sampled FBs and non-FBs in the perceptive concordance of the respective businesses held by those managers and customers. Research limitations/implications – Based on the research in this study the authors have developed a number of scholarly and managerial implications in the way that both FBs and non-FBs may retain old customers and gain new ones by anticipating and not merely responding to their product and service preferences. Originality/value – This paper extends the literature on customer relations management (“CRM”) in FBs by explaining how small High Street FBs in competitive retail businesses have continued to thrive in Western Europe where owner-managers have developed and successfully leveraged their tacit knowledge of the requirements of repeat customers.

Twenty Recommendations to Reduce Financial Predationand Blind Trust in Small Family-Owned FinancialBusinesses

This article examines the functioning of small family-owned financial businesses under the angle of the consolidated model of financial predation (CMFP). According to this model, small businesses that handle financial services run the risk of attracting investors who will trust them blindly based on such factors as empathy and family ties rather than on sound economic decisions. On the other hand, as proven by recent real-life examples, some family businesses may take advantage of blind trust to earn money in insidious ways that lure vulnerable customers. The author offers 20 recommendations to reduce so-called predation and examines the looming dangers of investors who blindly trust their advisors.

Psychological Ownership in Small Family-Owned Businesses: Leadership Style and Nonfamily-Employees’ Work Attitudes and Behaviors

Using a sample of 229 nonfamily employees working in 52 small family-owned businesses, we examined the relationships between owner-managers’ leadership style and employees’ psychological ownership of the family business and their job. We also examined whether psychological ownership mediated the link between leadership style and employees’ organizational attitudes and behaviors. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) analysis confirmed transformational and transactional leadership as contextual facilitators of psychological ownership for the family business and for the job. Passive (laissez-faire) leadership was negatively related to employees’ ownership feelings for the family business. Psychological ownership of the organization and the job mediated the relationship between leadership style and affective organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions. In addition, feelings of psychological ownership for the family business mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Technology Adoption in Small Family-Owned Businesses: Accessibility, Perceived Advantage, and Information Technology Literacy

The purpose of the study was to examine the antecedents and impacts of information technology (IT) adoption by small family-owned businesses, using data from the National Family Business Survey. This research tested a model based on the Diffusion of Innovations framework and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Family business managers’ prior knowledge and level of IT use, business location, and community size/type were important antecedents to the decision to adopt IT. Ease of use and decision to adopt IT accounted for over 60% of the variance in usefulness of IT and implementation of internet and IT capabilities. The implementation of IT capabilities accounted for nearly 40% of the variance in actual use of IT and perceived impact of the internet.

Measuring Success in Family Businesses: The Concept of Configurational Fit

The problems associated with measuring success in small businesses are primarily caused by a lack of comparable data due to the ambiguity of “success” and by subjective biases. Success evaluation is dominated by the estimates of business owners, who tend to overestimate overall success and internal strengths. However, reliable success measurement instruments would be useful for small business owners/managers as well as small business policymakers. The main purposes of this article are to compare various measures of success, to explore the differences in their outcomes, and to analyze whether a model of success measurement using configurational fit can be used to overcome subjective biases. The study is based on a recent survey of 103 small family-owned businesses in the eastern Austrian border region. Our analysis of the data confirmed the existence of the measurement problems mentioned above. Although some individual indicators show significant biases as well as effects due to company age, size, and industry, the aggregated indicator based on the concept of configurational fit seems to be an appropriate means of overcoming most of these drawbacks.

Real and Perceived Terrorist Threats

Motorcoach travel is a popular and economical mode of transportation. Motorcoaches carry more passengers than airlines or commuter rail each year. The motorcoach-based tourism industry in the U.S. is an industry dominated by small family-owned businesses. In this paper we examine the effects of September 11, 2001 on the motorcoach tourism industry with data drawn from a sample of 100 motorcoach tour operators. We provide insight into the segments of the business that have been most affected, customer safety and security concerns, and resulting actions by motorcoach tour operators. Motorcoach tour operator strategies to regain and grow their businesses and their perceptions regarding the future of the industry are addressed.

The Influence of Going Public on Investment Policy: An Empirical Study of French Family-Owned Businesses

This article focuses on the lack of capital available to small, private, family-owned businesses or businesses in which the manager and his or her family hold more than 51% of the total number of shares. It claims that being listed might be the best way to overcome this lack of capital. The article starts from the established view that access to financial resources is not easy for small family-owned businesses (Coleman & Carsky, 1999; De Visscher, Aronoff, & Ward 1995; Harvey & Evans 1995). In questioning the generally admitted frontier between investment and financing policies (Modigliani & Miller, 1958, 1963), this empirical work is on the fringe of standard financial theory. The study is carried out on two samples of small French family firms. The first is composed of 46 private companies, the second of 49 listed companies. All companies are SMEs (small and medium-size enterprises) and are nearly the same size. Empirical results are based on two cross-sectional analyses (1992, 1993). Linear regressions between investment and financial constraints are presented for the two samples separately. Results are very different, depending on whether the firm is listed. The description of private firms' investment is consistent with the pecking order theory (Myers & Majluf, 1984) and financial constraints clearly appear. The description of listed family firms is more classical: investment and financing policies seem to be independent. Finally, quoted family-owned businesses do not seem to suffer from lack of capital.

Sources of Capital for Small Family-Owned Businesses

Securing adequate capital is an ongoing challenge for many small family-owned businesses. This article uses data from the 1993 National Survey of Small Business Finances to determine the extent to which small family-owned firms use various types of credit products. Using logistic regression, it also identifies variables that predict the likelihood of using credit. Findings reveal that size, age, and profitability of the firm were the most important predictors. Results also indicate that there were virtually no differences between family-owned and nonfamily-owned businesses in the usage of various credit products.

Double Day, Double Bind: Women Garment Workers.

Charlene Gannage in Double Day, Double Bind attempts to unravel the complex life and work experience of immigrant women workers at Edna Manufacturing, a garment factory on Spadina in Toronto. The success of this book is twofold: first, it breaks the silence and solicits and records the voices of immigrant women; secondly, it details the complex factors which contribute to the development of gender and union consciousness, and which converge to create barriers to women's union participation. These factors include the organization of the work process, the system of payment, paternalistic employer/employee relations characteristic of small familyowned businesses; the ethnic division of the work place, skill differentiation, the gender division of labour; the double day for women, the structures and ideology of business unionism and patriarchal gender ideology. Before we meet the women themselves, Gannage discusses her research process. She documents the problems of gaining access to the women, the difficulties she had interviewing, the tensions and hostilities often generated by the process, and her own struggle to maintain her self confidence. For example, at one point she reports that a union bureaucrat advised me that I was too aggressive, too direct in my questions, that I cornered people, that I did not allow them an out, that I was too persistent and academic. He suggested that I be more feminine in my approach. I found this discussion fascinating. But I would have liked the personal character of it to be referenced to the ongoing feminist debate about how to do research, how to bridge the gap between researchers and respondents, etc.' We first meet the women of Edna manufacturing talking about their double day of labour. Gannage moves from the women's experience of the double day to look at how both the company and the union divide the workers. This sets the stage for making sense of women's limited participation in the union. In listening to these women speak of their work and their lives, I was struck by the relentless drudgery: their victimization by the capitalist work process and by a gender ideology that makes them responsible for housework and family life. I want to provide everything because Monday, start again to go to work. I don't want to leave I want to fix I kill myself sometimes. Maybe when I die, I relax. When I die, Ijinish They are driven by economic necessity and the desire to educate their children. The pressure of the double day means, however, that they have little time to spend with their children. They look forward to retirement and becoming grandmothers: You've got no time to enjoy your own children. But with grandchildren everything. Yet despite the pressures, they communicate a tremendous sense of determination and purpose: to work, to survive, to make better opportunities for their children. And they are often committed to wage work for reasons beyond the economic. I like work. Somehow I feel useful. I enjoy working ... You have your own money you enjoy that and you enjoy helping your husband ... you feel you belong to the world. You work, you make progress. This is consistent with research which has demonstrated that, from the point of view of physical and psychological health, the double day of work is better for women than staying at home fulltime. For example, Coleman and Antonucci (1982) argue that for women, is ... one of the most important predictors of physical health and lack of psychological an~iety.~ Canadian research on immigrant housewives suggests that employment might be especially important for immigrant women. Roxanna Ng and Judith Ramirez document the tremendous stress experienced by the immigrant woman, isolated in her home because of the language barrier, lack of support networks, etc.3 Gannage moves from women's experience of the double day to look at how the company divides the workers through the labour process, mobilizing the gender and ethnic division of labour as well as material and ideological differentiation by skill. Of particular interest is Gannage's description of how different systems of wage payment (some workers are paid by the piece, some by the hour and some by the week) structure competition, consciousness and degrees of worker solidarity. Workers acknowledge that the pressures of piece work create health problems but many also feel that piece work

Public health versus personal medical care: the dilemma of post-Mao China.

Five years after the death of Mao, news articles report almost daily on China's monumental efforts to transform itself into an economically prosperous nation. Coca-Cola signs, Pierre Cardin fashion shows, joint ventures with American industry, small family-owned businesses, and the large number of Chinese students now enrolled in Western universities are symbols of the new pragmatic drive to make China's economy grow 50 per cent faster than it did in the past 25 years. This ambitious objective is having considerable impact on all segments of Chinese life, including its system of health care.1 , 2 This paper seeks to explain the major . . .