Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Waikato, 2009. / Title from PDF cover (viewed July 7, 2009) Includes bibliographical references (p. 214-244)

Thesis (M.B.A. (Rhodes Investec Business School)) - Rhodes University, 2009. / A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Administration (MBA)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Stanford University, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 147-161).

Thesis (M.A.)--Ball State University, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on May 07, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 105-117).

Thesis (M.A.)--Ball State University, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Apr. 16, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 54-63).

Assignment (MComm)--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (M.B.A. (Rhodes Investec Business School)) - Rhodes University, 2007. / A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Administration.

Research on the organization of systems industries generally takes the boundaries of platforms to be exogenously-determined artifacts, given by the nature of technology. This paper studies whether platform boundaries are responsive to economic incentives by studying variation in platform boundaries in competing systems in mobile computing. Using detailed descriptive evidence and systematically collected databases of integration patterns, I find that platform boundaries in this industry could be understood as established in response to three primary goals: 1) to consolidate control around assets that conferred the power to regulate production in the system as a whole; 2) to integrate economic activities that risked coordination problems; 3) to open platform boundaries in response to interactions with market competition.

Even though family firms play a significant role in the economy, research regarding family firms is relatively new and is still an emerging field of study. Family firms possess specific characteristics distinguishing them from nonfamily firms. Moreover, there are other issues within the family firm research that has not been fully explored, and one of them is management accounting and control. Researchers have suggested that more research is needed on performance measurement focusing on both financial and non-financial information. A tool that includes both financial and non-financial measures is the Balanced Scorecard (BSC). As family firms are influenced by its location, the phenomenon known as the spirit of Gnosjö will be taken into consideration throughout the thesis. The aim of this thesis is to explore the usage of the perspectives comprising the BSC in SME family firms operating within the region of Gnosjö. In order to fulfill the purpose, a case study was carried out. The data was collected by conducting interviews. Further, the sampling process resulted in interviewing 13 participants in four companies. The findings show that all four companies use the perspectives comprising the BSC, however, the findings also indicate that the usage is influenced by familiness and the companies’ location. Further, this study confirms that using stewardship theory in family firms is suitable, aligning with previous research, specifically in SME family firms. Finally, we can conclude that formalized management accounting systems are not fully prevalent among the family firms.

Intra-family succession is the transfer of management, leadership and/or control of the business from one family member to another, and has been a core topic in family business research (Debicki, Matherne, Kellermanns, and Chrisman, 2009). Family firm researchers have suggested that family firms have a strong desire toward economic and non-economic goals (Kotlar and De Massis, 2013). However, how these goals fit into the strategic management decision of intra-family succession has not been explored by researchers (Chrisman, Kellermanns, Chan, and Liano, 2010). The purpose of this study is to identify and explain the importance of the goals that small private family firms expect to achieve through intra-family succession that cannot be achieved through non-family succession as “success in strategic management, including the management of intra-family succession, must be measured in terms of goal achievement” (De Massis, Sharma, Chua, and Chrisman, 2012, p. 30). To examine why intra-family succession goals (IFSGs) are important, this study relies on the psychological personality constructs of generativity (concern for guiding and establishing the next generation) and narcissism (an individual’s self-assurance, self-esteem and satisfaction with oneself). The respondents of this study are those family members who make up the dominant coalition (founders, incumbents, and potential successors) of the family firm. Only those firms where the family has the ability to influence firm behavior, and the intention (willingness) for intra-family succession, are included in this study. Qualitative data was collected to identify IFSGs, and these IFSGs are used in the development of the structured questionnaire. Fourteen IFSGs were identified from the qualitative phase of the study. The data collected from the structured questionnaire was subject to various statistical methods. The results suggest that the dominant coalition of small private family firms considered each IFSG as important, and that generativity and narcissism partially explain why these goals are important. The findings suggest that gender and the individual’s role within the dominant coalition influence the hypothesized relationship between IFSGs and generativity, and the IFSG of legacy and narcissism. This research provides several analytical, methodological and theoretical contributions and paves the way for further theoretical and empirical enquiry into intra-family succession of small private family firms.