<p>In recent years, family firms have been stressed as important contributors to economic wealth. An increased focus from both researchers and practitioners can therefore be seen in various forms such as research institutes and conferences. Furthermore, family firms are often treated as a group of similar kind while inherent differences are played down.</p><p>From a theoretical perspective, organisations look at the behaviour of others that face similar complex situations, such as succession. Information can be found in institutional carriers who connect groups of firms. By imitating what is perceived as successful practices, family firms face the risk of employing inefficient procedures in times of succession.</p><p>The purpose of this thesis was to investigate what kind of ideas Dagens Industri as institutional carrier communicates about succession in family firms. To fulfil the purpose, data was retrieved in the form of Dagens Industri articles concerning family businesses and succession. Interpretations were based on theoretical constructs on family firms as well as institutional theory.</p><p>From our findings, it was observed that family firms differ on the basis of industry presence and ownership structure. Furthermore, importance of time and communication was stressed in Dagens Industri.</p>

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

Este trabalho tem como objetivo pesquisar os processos não estruturados que suportam a formação de empreendedores. A literatura contemporânea sobre administração e gestão dá a conhecer que crises de continuidade nas organizações seriam minimizadas se essas contassem com maior espírito empreendedor em suas lideranças e equipes. Subentende-se, então, que as organizações deveriam formar empreendedores, tarefa de alta complexidade, que demanda conceituação e ambiente interno para ser realizada. Uma das conceituações possíveis é considerar o empreendedorismo como resultante de um conjunto de competências, que, por definição, são passíveis de serem adquiridas. A teoria da cognição tem fornecido novas abordagens para o entendimento de como competências individuais e conhecimento são absorvidos por pessoas em formação. Aplicada ao tema do empreendedorismo, a teoria da cognição também explica como os empreendedores agem e quais são os modelos mentais (crenças e aprendizados) que dão suporte à sua ação. Uma amostra de cinco empresas familiares, em fase de sucessão de liderança foi selecionada para esta pesquisa, que é exploratória e qualitativa. O ambiente interno das organizações também foi avaliado, assim como as atitudes empreendedoras dos gestores destas organizações. Como contraponto, as características de personalidade de cada respondente também foram avaliadas por um instrumento projetivo. Segundo o resultado encontrado, pode-se afirmar que existe um processo de formação dos sucessores, usado de forma intuitiva pelos fundadores das organizações. Esse processo pode ser estruturado e repetido, sob certas condições, em organizações que desejem formar empreendedores internos. As características de personalidade exercem influência relativamente pequena, tanto na escolha dos sucessores como no processo de formação e no ambiente interno. / The objective is to research the unstructured processes which support the development of entrepreneurs. Contemporary literature on administration and management evidences that continuity crises in the organizations would be minimized if the latter could count on a higher entrepreneurial spirit in it leaderships and teams. It is hence inferred that organizations should work towards developing entrepreneurs, a highly complex task, which demands conceptualization and an internal environment in order to be carried out. One of the possible conceptualizations consists of considering entrepreneurship as a result of a set of skills. By definition, it is possible to acquire skills. Cognition theory has provided new approaches to the understanding of how knowledge and individual skills are assimilated by people in professional development. Applied to the notion of entrepreneurship, cognition theory also explains how the entrepreneurs act and which the mental models (beliefs and learning) that support their actions are. A sample of five family businesses, in the process of succession, has been selected for this research, which is exploratory and qualitative. The organizations’ internal environment has also been evaluated, along with the entrepreneurial attitudes of their managers. As a counterpoint, personality traits of each respondent have been analyzed by a projective method. As a result, it can be stated that there is a successors’ development process, employed intuitively by the organizations’ founders. This process can be structured and repeated, under certain conditions, in organizations willing to work on the development of internal entrepreneurs. Personality traits exert a relatively small influence, both in the choice of the successors and in the professional development process and internal environment.

As empresas familiares geralmente são conhecidas como empresas com propriedade detida e gestão exercida por pelo menos um membro de uma família empresária. Historicamente, essas empresas foram um objeto pouco estudado pela academia, apesar de sua importância. Esta dissertação tem como objetivo geral analisar os efeitos da propriedade familiar sobre os eventos de fusão e aquisição, por meio da investigação do efeito da propriedade familiar sobre a propensão a realizar fusões e aquisições, do efeito da participação percentual da família no capital sobre essa propensão e da comparação do retorno anormal acumulado de empresas familiares e não familiares após eventos de fusão e aquisição. Para testar as hipóteses de pesquisa foram utilizadas as técnicas estatísticas Probit e regressão linear simples. A população de estudo foi composta por companhias abertas brasileiras com registro em bolsa de valores. Com base nessa população construiu-se uma amostra de 216 empresas. O período de investigação incluiu os anos de 2007 a 2011. Os resultados encontrados confirmaram a hipótese de que as empresas familiares são menos propensas a realizar fusões e aquisições do que as empresas não familiares. Esses resultados são relevantes na medida em que confirmaram a única constatação equivalente disponível na literatura. Contudo, a participação percentual da família no capital não mostrou nenhuma relação com a propensão a realizar fusões e aquisições. Por fim, os resultados não mostraram evidências para suportar a hipótese de que o retorno anormal acumulado após eventos de fusão ou aquisição seja superior para as empresas familiares. / Family firms are generally known as companies whith property held and management exercised by at least one member of an entrepreneur family. Historically, these companies have been an object little studied by the academy, despite their importance. This work aims to analyze the effects of family ownership on merger and acquisition events, by investigating the effect of family ownership on the propensity to carry out mergers and acquisitions, the effect of family\'s percentual participation on this propensity and the comparison between the abnormal return of family firms and non-family firms after merger and acquisition events. To test the research hypotheses the statistics techniques Probit and simple linear regression were used. The study population was composed by Brazilian public companies listed in the stock exchange. Based on this population a sample of 216 companies was built. The research period included the years 2007 to 2011. The results confirmed the hypothesis that family firms are less likely to conduct mergers and acquisitions than non-family firms. These results are relevant to the extent that they confirmed the unique equivalent conclusion available in the literature. However, the family\'s percentual ownership had no relationship with the propensity to carry out mergers and acquisitions. Finally, the results showed no evidence that the cumulative abnormal return after merger or acquisition events is higher for family firms.

Financial risk as a result of trade in foreign currencies is inevitable for firms that are engaged in international trade. However the decision how to manage this risk differs from one firm to another. This difference can be a result of the type of ownership in the individual firm.One of the classifications of the type of firms that have different can be categorized as family firms and non-family firms. Studies have showen that family firms differ in their use of control systems and financial management techniques. The difference is explained by the type of ownership. As a consequence of the differences, family and non-family firms may differe in their decision making with respect to foreign risk management. This thesis compaires the practice of foreign exchange risk management in family and non-family firms.the objective is to asses if family firms and non-family firms differe in their decision making to currency exposure management. The effect of the involvement of family members in the management of currency risk will also be addressed. Finaly, the paper will provide some recommandetions to firms exposed to foreign exchange risk.

In recent years, family firms have been stressed as important contributors to economic wealth. An increased focus from both researchers and practitioners can therefore be seen in various forms such as research institutes and conferences. Furthermore, family firms are often treated as a group of similar kind while inherent differences are played down. From a theoretical perspective, organisations look at the behaviour of others that face similar complex situations, such as succession. Information can be found in institutional carriers who connect groups of firms. By imitating what is perceived as successful practices, family firms face the risk of employing inefficient procedures in times of succession. The purpose of this thesis was to investigate what kind of ideas Dagens Industri as institutional carrier communicates about succession in family firms. To fulfil the purpose, data was retrieved in the form of Dagens Industri articles concerning family businesses and succession. Interpretations were based on theoretical constructs on family firms as well as institutional theory. From our findings, it was observed that family firms differ on the basis of industry presence and ownership structure. Furthermore, importance of time and communication was stressed in Dagens Industri.

Sammanfattning Denna magister uppsats undersöker huruvida ledarskap, ägarstruktur och kontroll påverkar svenska familjeföretags investerings prestation på marknaden. I undersökningen har 90 svenska företag analyserats inom en 15 års period (1990-2005). Ledarskap har delats upp i tre olika strukturer, den första strukturen står för grundar ledarskap. Regressionsanalysen i denna uppsats visade att en grundare har en positiv påverkan på företagets investerings prestation då grundaren agerade som Verkställande Direktör (VD), Styrelseordförande (SO) eller båda. Detta kan förklaras utifrån teorier som gör tydligt att en grundare äger entreprenörskaps anda och utmärkande kunskaper inom området ifråga. Resultatet för den andra strukturen, ättlings ledarskap visade att då ättlingar till grunderaren verkade som antingen VD, SO eller båda i företaget förekom en negativ påverkan på företagets finansiella prestation. Detta kan förklaras utifrån teorier som menar att en ättling inte har samma kunskap eller ambitioner som grundaren till företaget. Ättlingar har oftast ärvt högre poster inom företagen på grund av sina familjerelationer till grundaren snarare än på grund av sina kunskaper inom området. Den tredje ledarskapsstrukturen är externa ledare. Externa ledare är antingen en VD, SO eller båda som har blivit inhyrda till företaget av ägarfamiljen. Regressionsanalysen visade ett insignifikant resultat. När resultaten för ägarstruktur och andel röster av ägare analyserades i både företag med röstdifferensiering och utan röstdifferensiering visade det sig att när grundaren agerade som VD, SO eller båda i företag utan röstdifferensiering förekom ingen minoritets expropriation eller principal-agent konflikter inom företaget, vilket betyder att företagets finansiella prestation påverkades positivt. Liknande resultat hittades även för företag med röstdifferensiering som hade externa ledare i sin ledning.

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Current research in corporate governance focuses primarily upon minimization of agency costs in the shareholder-management relationship. In this dissertation, I examine a complimentary perspective based upon stewardship theory. The model developed herein leverages past research on socioemotional wealth to identify CEO attributes associated with stewardship behavior. I examine whether these attributes lead to positive firm performance. Moreover, I examine how family ownership and board of director characteristics influences the CEO stewardship – firm performance relationship. A 3-year unbalanced panel dataset using 268 S&P 1500 firms is analyzed using generalized least squares regression. All covariates lag the dependent variable by 1-year; constructs are included to control for popular agency prescriptions used to monitor, control, and incentivize executives. I find no relationship between the hypothesized constructs related to CEO stewardship (board memberships, organizational identity, and board tenure) and firm performance (Tobin’s Q). However, results reveal family ownership positively moderates the relationship between the quantity of CEO board memberships and firm performance. Additionally, the presence of affiliated directors and community influential directors positively moderates the CEO board memberships-firm performance relationship. The presence of community influential directors also positively moderates the relationship between CEO organizational identity and firm performance. Results from this dissertation provide moderate support for stewardship theory as a compliment to agency theory in corporate governance literature. There is evidence that family ownership and board of director attributes strengthen the relationship between those CEO stewardship constructs and firm performance. However, lack of a direct relationship between the CEO stewardship constructs and firm performance suggest a need more fine-grained constructs that measure stewardship. A substantial amount of research exists in corporate governance using the principal-agent model. The research herein extends this research by using stewardship theory to compliment the dominant agency model. I hope this research encourages scholars to take an integrative approach by (1) taking a renewed look at alternate theories of corporate governance such as stewardship theory, and (2) continue work that focuses upon firm performance maximization through CEO stewardship as well as agency loss mitigation through monitoring and control of the CEO.

<p>Sammanfattning</p><p>Denna magister uppsats undersöker huruvida ledarskap, ägarstruktur och kontroll påverkar svenska familjeföretags investerings prestation på marknaden. I undersökningen har 90 svenska företag analyserats inom en 15 års period (1990-2005).</p><p>Ledarskap har delats upp i tre olika strukturer, den första strukturen står för grundar ledarskap. Regressionsanalysen i denna uppsats visade att en grundare har en positiv påverkan på företagets investerings prestation då grundaren agerade som Verkställande Direktör (VD), Styrelseordförande (SO) eller båda. Detta kan förklaras utifrån teorier som gör tydligt att en grundare äger entreprenörskaps anda och utmärkande kunskaper inom området ifråga. Resultatet för den andra strukturen, ättlings ledarskap visade att då ättlingar till grunderaren verkade som antingen VD, SO eller båda i företaget förekom en negativ påverkan på företagets finansiella prestation. Detta kan förklaras utifrån teorier som menar att en ättling inte har samma kunskap eller ambitioner som grundaren till företaget. Ättlingar har oftast ärvt högre poster inom företagen på grund av sina familjerelationer till grundaren snarare än på grund av sina kunskaper inom området. Den tredje ledarskapsstrukturen är externa ledare. Externa ledare är antingen en VD, SO eller båda som har blivit inhyrda till företaget av ägarfamiljen. Regressionsanalysen visade ett insignifikant resultat.</p><p>När resultaten för ägarstruktur och andel röster av ägare analyserades i både företag med röstdifferensiering och utan röstdifferensiering visade det sig att när grundaren agerade som VD, SO eller båda i företag utan röstdifferensiering förekom ingen minoritets expropriation eller principal-agent konflikter inom företaget, vilket betyder att företagets finansiella prestation påverkades positivt. Liknande resultat hittades även för företag med röstdifferensiering som hade externa ledare i sin ledning.</p>