Thesis (M.B.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D. (Management))--Rhodes University, 2005.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available in electronic version.

D.Phil. / In both developed and under-developed countries, family businesses are the most prevalent, best-performing and resilient expressions of applied entrepreneurship. Despite this, however, the general impression one gathers from both the academic and the popular literature is a negative one, suggesting that family businesses tend to be fragile, transient of nature, and prone to destructive, internal conflict. Consequently, the positive performances and valuable socio-economic contributions that family businesses do actually generate in global economies, are inadequately acknowledged and largely inconsistent with the negative images that prevail in the bulk of the literature on the subject. Mainstream family-business theory, known as the orthodox approach, regards the family and the business as separate entities. The current study is conducted in opposition to this view, preferring the heterodox approach, which acknowledges family and business as an interrelated, virtually indivisible unit of productive and profitable association between the two constituent parts. In successful family firms, the business and the family seem to be inseparable. This homogeneity is termed a "unified systemic" relationship, and the reciprocal inter-relationship between family and business is regarded by the "systems" school of thought as the leading factor contributing to the generally superior performance of family businesses. Central to the unified, systemic model is the concept of "familiness". This characteristic underpins the co-ordination of the family inter-action with the firm, leading to flexibility, resilience, sustainability and superior performance. The current study does not attempt to deny the difficulties that confront family businesses. This would be unreasonable in the light of an alleged 30-percent-onaverage generation-transition survival rate in family businesses. However, the study has chosen to focus on a more positive view of family-business relationships, acknowledging an inseparable association between the family and the business, and the pro-active management thereof. More specifically, this study investigates the role of familiness in the success and failure of family-business groups in South Africa. Because of the vastness of the field, the study does not attempt to include familybusiness groups on a global scale. For the purposes of the current study, familiness is investigated as the development of, and the relationships formed between, founder capital, family capital and generation capital, leading to family-business-capital-behaviour, as these concepts are defined in the study. To facilitate this investigation, a conceptual model, comprising fourteen different, developmental channels, was created. Collectively, the model represents familiness in all the different phases of growth and advancement of family-business groups (see Familiness Transmission of Capital Model, Figure 2.14, p. 86). In evaluating the model, semi-structured interviews were used to do a qualitative investigation of all fourteen proposed transmission channels. Eight of the most prominent and influential family-business groups in South Africa participated in the study. Family-business groups were specifically chosen for the current study because they are more complex than smaller family businesses and secondly, because it is virtually impossible to gain access to the family-business owners of multinational, multi-billion-rand enterprises. The sample of family-business groups selected for the current study had already achieved successful transitions through their second, third and fourth generations. The results of the current study indicate that the concept of familiness appears to play a vital role in the success or failure of generation-transmission in the eight prominent South African family-business groups investigated. More specifically, it would seem that the systemic inter-relatedness between the family and the business, through the concept of familiness, plays a pivotal role in the various transmission channels that lead not only to the advanced success of family businesses, but also to the successful transition of the business to the succeeding generations of the founding family. The findings of the current study endorse the heterodox view that the family and the business cannot be separated, but should rather be seen as an interactive system with unique, collectable resources. The findings respond to a need created, according to Bornheim (2000:163), by the principal deficiency in the family organisation literature, namely a theory that explains the developmental stages of each generation succession. ii The study concludes that family businesses seem to engender a "soul" into the functioning of such enterprises by means of service leadership in eight areas of operation, identified by means of a conditional matrix, namely: customer-care; social responsibility; culture; innovative behaviour; leadership-by-example; legacy of family ownership; passion for the family business; and the treatment of employees as if they are members of the family. The concept of familiness engendering a "soul" into a business, offers a possible explanation for the superior performance of family businesses when this is compared with the general performance of non-family businesses. Several recommendations and suggestions are offered for further research on the topic.

The purpose of this multi-case study research was to determine variables that affect The Perceived Success of Fair Family Employee Compensation in South African family businesses. Five propositions: Human Capital, Outside Advice, Succession Planning, Fairness and Family Harmony were tested and as a result, Human Capital, Fairness and Family Harmony were deduced to have a positive influence, while Outside Advice and Succession Planning had a non-significant influence. The present research effort begun with an in-depth literature review on family business and the variables: Human Capital, Outside Advice, Succession Planning, Fairness, Family Harmony and Fair Family Employee Compensation, followed by a qualitative explanatory multi-case study research design using embedded units of analysis and provided a valuable insight into compensation issues regarding family businesses in South Africa. Replication logic was used to generalise the results and it was recommended that the preliminary theory regarding Outside Advice and Succession Planning be revised and tested with another set of cases, while the results indicated that Human Capital, Fairness and Family Harmony could be generalised to the broader theory.

The aim of the study was to understand whether family businesses and non-family business differ from one another regarding green business and environmental issues. Green business issues are of global importance for the continued existence of business within the world. Businesses do not exist in isolation but within the context of the environment within which they function. Business has an impact on the environment and the environment has an impact on business. Furthermore, family businesses constitute a large part of the world economy and estimates range from 60-90 percent of GDP contributed by family businesses. In the South African context family businesses also form a significant part of the business environment. A literature study was conducted. The study identified five factors and considered each of these factors in the study. The five factors are: Green Business; Values; Stewardship; Succession; and, Stakeholders. In addition to a literature, primary research was conducted and data were collected by means of a questionnaire that collected data on the factors identified as well as some biographical information, including race, age and the sectors in which the respondents operated. The study’s findings correspond with the literature study, although no clear difference was found between family business and non-family business relating to green business and environmental issues. Family businesses do however believe that they are stewards of the environment and need to care for the environment.

Family businesses are prevalent in South Africa and throughout the world. Succession is one of the largest challenges facing family businesses. It has been estimated that only one third of family businesses survive to the second generation. This study attempts to determine what the main features are to promote successful family business succession and continuity. The family chosen for this research is the Venter family. The research has scaled the various influencing variables from the literature review into the following focus areas: relationships, conflict, vision, effective succession characteristics and continuity. The findings reflect many instances found in the literature, some are: individuals can manage themselves and have relationships with others; have the ability to resolve conflicts; have mutual support and trust; there is respect between the founder and successor; the business vision is clear; communication is open and clear and decisions are based on expertise and knowledge. Many other aspects are highlighted in the research that follows. In addition, the study attempts to identify the generational effects, the major characteristics of the family owned succession process and the views of the predecessors on the succession process and the post succession period.

Despite family business researchers having worked towards an understanding of how family businesses obtain success or achieve satisfaction, much confusion and debate on how to define success still exist in the field. It is suggested that defining success in terms of a family business is problematic because even family members themselves have varying perceptions of success. This confusion and debate has in recent years led to an increase in research concerning the meaning of success in the context of family businesses. Defining success is necessary, because if family businesses do not know what success means and what they are working towards, they will not know what decisions to make in order to be successful. Against this background, the primary objective of this study was to establish the perceptions of the concept of success among family business owners. For the purpose of this study, a mixed methodology was adopted because the data was collected using a qualitative method but analysed using a quantitative method. This study used a free word association test – which is a qualitative projective technique – to collect the data, which was then analysed by means of summative manifest content analysis which is a quantitative research method. Convenience sampling was used to identify small business owners to undergo the word association tests. By means of these tests, 811 words/phrases were generated by the 50 small non-family and 51 small family business owners who participated in the study. Theoretical, data, investigator and methodological triangulation was used to ensure the validity of the study whereas credibility, transferability, dependability, confirmability and authenticity were applied to ensure its reliability. A coding framework was developed and several analyses were undertaken to summarise the data. The nature and position of the words/phrases recalled as well as the most frequently occurring words/phrases recalled were reported on. To determine whether significant differences exist between the different sample groups, Chi-square statistics were calculated to ascertain statistical significance and Craemer’s V statistics to establish practical significance. The findings of this study show that small non-family business owners mostly associate business success with non-financial indicators. These non-family business owners perceive a successful small business as one that is customer-focused, provides quality service and is characterised by discipline, drive and determination. Similarly, the findings show that the small family business owners participating in this study mostly associate family business success with words/phrases of a non-financial nature. The family business owners perceived a successful family business as one where, in addition to financial returns, discipline, drive and determination, as well as trust, honesty and hard work prevail. Even though both non-family and family business owner participants mostly recalled words/phrases of a non-financial nature, non-family business owners were mainly concerned with being customer-focused and proving quality, whereas family business owners focused more on values such as discipline, drive and determination as well as trust and honesty. Based on the perceptions of success among family business owners, a workable definition of “family business success” was formulated. Family business owners mainly perceive a successful family business as one where, in addition to financial returns, values such as discipline, drive and determination as well as trust, honesty and hard work prevail in the organisational culture of their businesses. Investigating the meaning of success in the field of family business has become a topic of growing interest. This study is one of the first in South Africa to adopt a qualitative dominant approach in attempting to overcome the lack of consensus, as well as to gain greater clarity regarding the way in which success is defined by family businesses. It is hoped that the results of this study will provide family business owners as well as practitioners and researchers in the field with a better understanding of what family business success entails. This understanding offers the potential to guide and improve goal-setting and strategic processes by family businesses, resulting in fewer family business failures and ultimately improving the South African economy.

I study the role of auditing in mitigating agency concerns in family firms. Family firms face less severe agency problems due to the separation of ownership and control (Type 1) but more severe agency problems between controlling and noncontrolling shareholders (Type 2). As family firms make up a large part of most free enterprise economies it is important to examine these two agency problems with respect to auditor choice and audit effort. I find that family firms are more likely to choose a specialist auditor than nonfamily firms, consistent with the argument that family firms need to signal their non-expropriating behaviors by choosing specialist auditors. I further find that audit fees are lower in family firms compared to nonfamily firms, consistent with the hypothesis that the Type 1 agency conflict dominates the Type 2 agency conflict in the determination of audit effort and pricing. Moreover, consistent with prior literature that states that effective internal governance demands a quality auditor and more audit effort irrespective of ownership structure, I find that the positive association between family ownership and specialist auditor choice is stronger when internal governance is strong and the negative relation between audit fees and family ownership is weaker when the internal governance is strong. I find that these results on audit fees are robust to the use of alternative measures of concentrated influence such as CEO ownership, inside director ownership, and the presence of one or more founder directors. I also find that the effect of internal governance on audit fees is not limited to one or a few components of internal governance.

With the constant changes in society, the way companies market themselves has changed and customer engagement, relationships and transparency has become a more important factor. Significantly in how businesses should conduct their business to create as much value as possible. And through this ever-changing environment in which retail exists, flexibility and the need for responsiveness is key where co-creational strategies can help a long way in opening up companies to reach, create and maintain good relationships through communication. The qualitative research method of a case study with semi-structured interviews was conducted to gather empirical findings for this study. The interviews were conducted with five employees of a family owned retail business to obtain a full perspective and understanding of their work towards customer engagement and co-creation. The authors of this thesis have adopted a deductive approach in this thesis. The thesis conclusion shows several reasons why co-creation strategies could amplify engagement and how the company needs to be aware and acknowledge their customers, to further build relationships. Findings indicate that a more structured approach is needed for their social media communication platforms. Moreover, it is important to note that this research is conducted from the companies’ perspective. Lastly, it is important to recognize the dynamics and reputation of the family business, as local status and size influence the overall experience and view of the company.