COVID-19 and the future of family business research

Abstract The world is witnessing dramatic changes brought about by Covid-19 and its aftermath, with significant implications for the management of organizations, and hence management studies We argue that the pandemic and its social and economic reverberations are triggering particularly salient challenges for family businesses (FBs) ? the most ubiquitous form of business organization in any world economy ? that call into question some fundamental assumptions at the core of FB researc

Awareness of Residents in Small-scale Mining Communities on the Perceived Environmental Impact of Small-scale Mining: A Case of Amansie West District in Ashanti Region of Ghana.

This paper employed cross-sectional survey research design to examine the awareness of residents in small-scale mining communities on the perceived environmental impacts of small-scale mining, with particular emphasis on Amansie West District in Ashanti region of Ghana. Awareness is not only necessary predisposing factor for behavioural change but that knowledge can also dramatically improve attitude, misconception and consequently enhance small-scale mining practices. To achieve this objective, the investigator relies on information collected both quantitatively and qualitatively through in-depth interviews and questionnaires administration with 60 household heads sampled in stratified communities; based on common characteristics within small-scale mining communities in Amansie West District, coupled with documented data from published and unpublished articles. The study not only identify an inexplicably higher number of residents in the District engaged in small-scale mining but also realized that, 91.7 percent of the household heads sampled mentioned that the small-scale mining operations have had varied impacts on their environment, especially, their lands which are regarded as key element of physical capital in livelihood strategies for the dwellers in the (small-scale mining) communities. The residents however, showed awareness of varied degrees of potential health risks of small-scale mining activities in their respective communities. Although mitigation efforts have had limited impacts; it is expected that the policy recommendations in this paper if adopted and strictly adhere to will help reduce, if not completely ameliorate the environmental ramification of small-scale mining in Ghana. Key Words: Awareness, Environmental impact, Small-scale mining, Sustainable developmen

Qualitative research practices and family business scholarship:a review and future research agenda

In spite of various calls for a wider application of qualitative research in the family business field, it is our contention that the full potential of qualitative inquiry is not being fully realized. Part of the reason for this relates to the tendency to promote methods choice and diversity rather than addressing the foundational questions and processes which underlie qualitative research choices. These tendencies obscure attention to the reasons why researchers choose qualitative methods and the kinds of foundational issues about family businesses that are brought to light through qualitative research. To address this, we undertake an analysis of the most-cited articles using qualitative methods from an annotated bibliography of family business studies. From this, we identify the strengths and weaknesses of extant qualitative studies in family business research and argue for the need to re-orientate calls in family business research towards the foundational questions (rather than methods) that underline qualitative inquiry

Non solo fisco, focus anche sulla leadership

In Italy 93% of companies in the private sector are controlled or managed by a family. Furthermore, 43% of business leaders are over the age of 60 and the baby boomers, who founded or inherited the business in the second half of the 20th century, will soon find themselves handing down the business to the millennial generation. This explains why the generational shift plays a crucial role for Italy's future - and more generally for Europe - and its economic development ..

One finding is no finding:Toward a replication culture in family business research

Our goal is to foster the development of a healthy replication culture in family business research. Replication, which advances theory by confronting existing understanding with new evidence, is of paramount importance in creating a meaningful cumulative knowledge base. In the family business field, however, as in many other fields within the broader management literature, dedicated replications are largely absent. After a brief analysis of the likely causes and consequences of our collective avoidance of replication studies, we examine four types of replication of particular importance to the field and provide guidelines and recommendations for family business scholars interested in conducting such research. We invite journals and their editors to reflect on the role they can play in changing the incentive structures to conduct and submit useful replication studies and provide actionable suggestions for improvement. We illustrate contemporary examples of family business knowledge advancement through replication research

INNOVATING WITH LIMITED RESOURCES

German Mittelstand firms are globally recognized for their innovation, especially regarding product, process, and service innovation. So what can scholars and managers across the globe learn from the success story of German Mittelstand innovation? Drawing on information collected on innovative Mittelstand firms and extant knowledge on innovation, the resource-based view, and family firm research, the authors investigate how these highly innovative firms flourish and achieve high innovation performance despite the severe financial and human capital resource constraints they face as compared with larger corporations. The authors then present a model identifying and integrating six salient traits of such firms that allow them to efficiently orchestrate their resources to innovate and outcompete their competitors in the global market, enabling those firms to overcome their resource-related weaknesses and turn them into strengths. Specifically, these traits are: niche focus and customer collaboration, globalization strategy, preference for self-financing, long-run mindset, superior employee relations, and community embeddedness. The power of this Mittelstand approach takes full effect only when all six traits operate in an integrated fashion, and the proposed resource-based model serves as a starting point for a more holistic and comprehensive understanding of firm ability to innovate and successfully compete within a specific context. The article outlines the implications of the model of German Mittelstand innovation for research conducted in different fields including innovation, entrepreneurship, strategy, dynamic capabilities, ecosystems, and family business. Finally, the article proposes a future research agenda aimed at improving current understanding of the German Mittelstand "innovation strategy" and its transferability to other contexts, and outlines practical implications for owners and managers worldwide wanting to emulate the German Mittelstand innovation model

Profitability goals, control goals, and the R&D investment decisions of family and non-family firms

R&D investments can help build sustainable competitive advantages and improve firm performance as well as foster industry transformations and economic growth. Nevertheless, managers also acknowledge the difficulties associated with managing R&D and the low chances of success of innovation programs. For this reason, researchers have long been interested in understanding how managers make R&D investment decisions and, more specifically, identifying the conditions under which managers are most likely to increase or decrease R&D investments. Research grounded in the behavioral theory of the firm suggests that a primary driver of R&D investment decisions is profitability: when profitability goals have not been met, managers are more likely to initiate a problemistic search through increasing R&D investments. While emphasizing profitability goals and their relationship with R&D investments, prior research largely downplays the role of goals beyond profitability that exist in a significant number of firms (family firms) that are owned and managed by family members whose primary concern is preserving their control over the organization. Research indicates that these family-centered non-economic goals lead family managers to minimize R&D investments and that the coexistence of multiple goals produces highly variable R&D investment behavior in family firms. Yet, how family-centered goals for control and profitability goals enter decision-making in family firms is not fully understood nor has any empirical study directly examined how these two apparently incompatible classes of goals jointly affect R&D investment variations in family firms. In this study, we propose that family managers form distinctive reference points that capture supplier bargaining power and are used to evaluate the degree of external obstruction to their managerial control. Accordingly, we hypothesize that family managers use reference points for profitability and for control jointly when making R&D investment decisions. The empirical analysis of panel data on 431 private Spanish manufacturing firms observed over the period 2000-2006 shows that the importance of profitability and control goals follows a sequential logic in family firms, such that family firms react more strongly to increasing supplier bargaining power when their profitability reference points have been reached. This study extends current understanding of the distinctive organizational processes engendered by family management in business organizations leading to new perspectives and research opportunities at the intersection of the innovation management and family business literatures

Family business growth around the world

Growth is important for the long-term success of a business. Regrettably, the impact of family influence on firm growth is largely neglected. We examine whether family firms have a higher growth rate than their nonfamily counterparts. Based on a large sample of firms across 43 countries over a 10-year period, we show that family firms on average have higher growth rates than nonfamily firms, and this positive effect is greater for family firms operating in strong national institutional environments which are less corrupt, more democratic, more subject to rule of law, and have effective government policies. We also find that the positive effect of family influence on firm growth varies significantly across different types of family firms and different business cycles. These findings show that family control has an economically significant impact on growth rates and important implications for both family firm theory and practice

The impact of family involvement on SMEs performance:theory and evidence

By complementing agency theory with behavioral assumptions, we explore the effects of family involvement on SMEs’ performance. We identify three separate dimensions of family involvement and hypothesize non-linear, direct and interaction effects on the performance of an SME. The evidence on 787 SMEs suggests that an inverted U-shaped relationship exists between family ownership and performance, and ownership dispersion among family members negatively affects performance. Balancing family and non-family members in the TMT is found to be beneficial to SMEs’ performance, but the family ratio in the TMT becomes crucial only at high levels of family ownership