The authors' analysis of 291 family business articles published in 30 management journals between 2001 and 2007 reports the contributions of individual scholars and academic institutions to family business research. To better understand the interrelationships among scholars who have contributed to family business research, a network analysis of coauthor relationships was conducted. The authors also provide a content analysis of the articles and offer suggestions for future research. By analyzing the who, where, and what of family business research, the reasons why the developmental trends have occurred and how the field's momentum can be maintained and directed toward productive ends become clearer.

During 2021, mergers and acquisitions (also known as M&A) experienced record-breaking numbers. In line with there being an array of M&As having been realized, there also exist various and multiple reasons for the company owners to go through with the process - or to decline the offer. As such, the motives and reasoning steering the owner’s decision regarding offers from external actors constitute a fascinating research area. Thus, out of interest of the aforementioned, the aim of this study is to provide a deeper understanding of the motives driving the decision-making of family-owned business owners in times of external offers being put on the table. Undertaking this endeavor, the frameworks of Socioemotional Wealth Theory (SEW) and Agency Theory (Economic-Rational) constitute key theoretical concepts. More specifically, we ask: how does the family who owns the business value an external offer - and why do they reason the way they do? Conducting semi structured interviews with four owners of small family companies located in Småland, this thesis provides insights and interpretations generated by a qualitative research design and abductive data collection. The conclusion drawn is that motives differ greatly. More specifically, the evaluation of external offers is generally impacted by values and priorities associated with SEW. However, in connection to suboptimal change-of-generation possibilities, the economic-rational reasoning receives greater attention. Thus, recognizing the importance of change-of-generation, future research should explore this factor more extensively.

Byly provedeny dva empirické výzkumy: kvalitativní a kvantitativní. Výsledkem kvalitativního výzkumu jako pilotní studie bylo porozumění současné situaci a vytvoření koncepčního rámce rodinného podnikání v odvětví vína v České republice s ohledem na výsledky výzkumu literatury. V důsledku kvantitativního výzkumu byly navíc zkoumány vztahy mezi hlavními konkurenčními taktiky a výkonnosti rodinného podniku, a to s ohledem na generační fázi rodinných firem. Otevřené kódování bylo použito v prvním výzkumu. Použití testu Mann-Whitney U umožnilo určit významný rozdíl mezi využitím konkurenční taktiky vybranými rodinnými firmami s ohledem na generační fázi. Aplikací korelační a regresní analýzy výzkum pomohli zjistit vztahy mezi konkurenčními taktiky a výkonnosti rodinného podnikání obecně a taky vzhledem ke generační fáze vybraných vinařských rodinných firem v České republice.

Family Matters – Essays of Families, Firms and Funding in the Philippines 1850–2014 is a study of family business groups in the Philippines. It consists of an introductory essay and four separate papers. The introductory essay frames the thesis in the vast literature on family firms and family business groups in emerging economies, discusses sources and methodology, and provides an overview of Philippine economic history to give the overarching economic context to the separate papers. The first paper deals with the role of institutions in understanding the dominance and prevalence of family business groups in the Philippines. The literature posits that weak institutions can help explain the predominance of family business groups in emerging economies. This paper takes a historical perspective to examine whether that explanation holds over time, examining the development of core property rights and core economic institutions over time and how family firms have responded. The second paper studies funding options in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and whether the rapidly growing financial system was driven from above or below. The paper examines the impact it had on the explicit goal of stimulating investment and growth in the early twentieth century and what that meant for family firms. The third paper studies capital market developments since the Asian crisis and in particular the growth of the corporate bond market in the Philippines; how this development and how it affected family business groups. The fourth paper deals with governance and management capabilities and examines professionalization of family firms over time to seek to answer the question of longevity. Management literature provides studies and models for family firms but these are fairly recent whereas the family firms that have been in business for several generations have found ways to manage for the long term. The paper analyses what three select groups have done in terms of professionalization and management.

Problem: Family firms often comprise of a complex web of relationships between family and non-family managers that are active within the business. Family enterprises are also known for their closed communication and decision-making practices. It often occurs that families do not include non-family managers into important business-related discussions and do not consult their decisions with managers from outside of the family. At the same time, research in the area of family business defines that the relationships between family and non-family managers are highly linked to the success of a business. With these considerations in mind, this study investigates how family and non-family managers communicate in family businesses. Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to create an understanding of the phenomenon of communication and information-sharing between family and non-family managers in small and medium-sized family firms in Sweden. In particular, we are investigating the distinctive characteristics of communication, the barriers to effective communication, and what business-related information that is not shared between family and non-family managers. Method: This study is conducted qualitatively, utilising multiple case studies. For the collection of empirical data, we conducted twelve semi-structured interviews with both family and non-family managers in three small and medium-sized family companies located in Sweden. Findings: Our findings show that there are multiple distinctive characteristics of communication in family firms. Additionally, we uncovered several groups of barriers that hinder effective communication between family and non-family managers in family companies. Additionally, we found out that there is numerous business-related information that is not shared between family and non-family managers. Contributions: Our findings contribute to the managerial and theoretical understanding of communication and information-sharing between family and non-family managers in family businesses. This thesis is of interest to any individual working in or with family companies, as well as, academics, who investigate the field of family business.

<p>Individual level factors related to the successor have a central role to play in the succession process of the business. When these factors are viewed in relation to succession planning models, these factors have a direct relation to the succession models in terms of success or failure of the succession process. The major contributing factor to the success or failure of the succession process is that of the leadership provided to the organization by the predecessor. These leadership qualities change from one form to another during different phases of the succession planning models.</p>

According to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) (2004), it is estimated that there is a total of 1.42 million active businesses in South Africa, 84 per cent of which are classified as “family business”. Internationally, family businesses account for 70 per cent of all international businesses and 35 per cent of Fortune 500 companies (Balshaw, 2004). Despite their economic importance, family businesses still find marketing to be a challenge. Relationships are at the heart of family businesses (Petzinger, 1999; Cooper, Upton and Seaman, 2005). This is because the fundamental DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid) a family business is based on a symbiotic relationship between the family and the business. Families, by virtue of their DNA, cultivate deep relationships with people, which include customers, suppliers and even competitors. Hence, in a family business context, these values are transferred into the business by the associated family. This relational approach is often utilised in the marketing strategies that they adopt. This study investigates some of the characteristics of relationship marketing that exist in South African family businesses. The results from the family businesses surveyed, indicates that they cultivate deep relationship with customers. This characteristic enables these businesses to be highly proficient at both satisfying and retaining customers. However, despite a culture of customer centricity, further findings indicate that such businesses are less proficient regarding their orientation with competitors, as they are often slow to respond to competition, in the market place. Lastly, the study indicates that family businesses cultivate and maintain a healthy relationship with employees; as such relationships is a prerequisite for customer satisfaction.

Background: Family businesses are shaping the world’s economy through contributions to establishing jobs, creating wealth, and competitiveness, correspondingly being influenced by the quality of the business environment. Family business branding is useful to understand how to leverage their unique resources and create a competitive advantage, these being shaped by the context. The historical events and economic factors of Romania are influencing the decision of family firms to portray their family in their branding endeavours in order to become more competitive. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to understand the reasoning behind the Romanian family companies’ decision to promote their family aspect in their brand and how do family business identity, image, and reputation relate to the brand in the context of Romania. For guidance, two research questions were developed in order to gain valuable and significant insights for this thesis. Method: Ontology – Relativism; Epistemology – Social constructionism; Approach – Inductive; Design – Exploratory; Methodological choice – Qualitative; Time Horizon – Cross-sectional; Strategy – Case-study; Data collection – In-depth Interviews; Sampling – Non-probability Purposive Samples based on criteria (eleven respondents); Data Analysis – Content Analysis. Conclusion: From findings, it can be concluded that the context of Romania has a direct impact on family businesses and on how they are conducting their family brand promotion. Even though it is considered to have a positive impact, few Romanian family businesses actively market themselves as a family business. The predominant factors affecting the decisional processes, which are shaped by the contextual effects according to the three brand dimensions, have been comprised in a model of influential factors.

Background: Increased competition and fast-changing and global markets are the major characteristics of today’s business environment. Family firms need to adapt to these changes and more often pursue an international expansion themselves to remain competitive. The concept of dynamic capabilities has been developed to explain how businesses can react to changes in the environment to sustain a competitive advantage. The internationalization of a family firm can be such a change in the environment  Purpose:The purpose of this study is to analyze the internationalization of family firms through the lens of dynamic capabilities.  Method: We use a qualitative case study design with four cases representing four family firms that have gone through an international expansion. Through semi-structured interviews we extract the data from the family firms. We develop a framework out of the literature as a basis for the analysis and present a revised framework with the results of the study.  Conclusion:The analysis shows there are certain capabilities that help family firms in the internationalization process. Sensing capabilities include network and market scanning capabilities and assist family firms with finding new opportunities in foreign markets. Seizing capabilities include decision-making and managerial capabilities and are used to adjust the resource base to exploit the prior sensed opportunities. Lastly, with transforming capabilities, which consist of entrepreneurial and learning/knowledge capabilities, family firms can continuously reconfigure their resources to improve processes and structures towards the new international environment. Various aspects of familiness influence the development of these dynamic capabilities

Os mecanismos de governança corporativa são originalmente propostos para empresas de capital aberto, entretanto suas práticas podem minimizar os problemas de agência encontrados em empresas de controle familiar ao estabelecer regras para as relações entre família, patrimônio societário e gestão, além da clássica separação entre propriedade e controle. São notórias a forte presença de grupos familiares e a alta concentração de propriedade entre empresas de capital privado nacional. Muitas das dificuldades enfrentadas são comuns entre as organizações familiares, entretanto, não existem regras e soluções que atendam a todas de modo satisfatório. Dessa forma o trabalho consistiu no estudo de caso de quatro empresas familiares do Rio Grande do Sul em que são investigados o alinhamento das práticas e estruturas de gestão das empresas pesquisadas às práticas de governança corporativa. / Corporate governance mechanisms are originally proposed for publicly traded companies, but their practices can minimize the agency problems found in family-owned companies by establishing rules for family relationships, corporate equity and management, as well as the classic separation between ownership and control. Notable are the strong presence of family groups and the high concentration of ownership among national private equity firms. Many of the difficulties faced are common among family organizations, however, there are no rules and solutions that suit all of them satisfactorily. In this way the work consisted of the case study of four family companies from Rio Grande do Sul in which the alignment of the practices and management structures of the surveyed companies with the practices of corporate governance are investigated.