The concept of socioemotional wealth (SEW) seeks to present an independent paradigmatic basis for family-firm research, and in doing so aims to establish a sound basis for the scientific legitimacy of family-firm research. Establishing that legitimacy requires scholars to demonstrate that SEW is based on coherent assumptions on several theoretical levels. This paper uses the problematization methodology to challenge the coherence of the theoretical assumptions underpinning SEW and to advance theory development. The results of this problematization show that SEW is built on a theoretical level close to the object of research (in-house assumptions), but that more deeply-rooted theoretical levels (e.g. paradigmatic assumptions) are not sufficiently elaborated. Moreover, the original conceptualization is based on a positivist-mechanistic view, which hinders SEW reflecting the complex reality of family firms. Based on the results of this problematization, new systems theory is applied to reframe SEW's theoretical grounding. Thereby the main contribution of the paper is a critical reflection on the theoretical underpinnings of SEW (in particular root-metaphor and paradigmatic assumptions), serving as the basis for advancing a coherent theoretical understanding of this important concept in family business research.

Title: External board members in family firms. Subject: Bachelor's thesis in business administration, 15 credits Authors: Maria Persson & Jenny SundqvistKeywords: Family firm, external board member, board, competence. Research questions: • What can external board members contribute with the company's current expertise? • What are the positive and negative aspects of bringing in external board members? Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to explain the impact that external board members canhave on current competence, as well as positive and negative aspects in a family business. Method: This study was conducted with an abductive research approach. Furthermore, thestudy has applied a qualitative research method in which nine respondents from nine differentcompanies were interviewed. The literature study has been carried out by collecting theoriesfrom previous research studies. Conclusion: The conclusion of this study shows that the appointment of external boardmembers has predominantly positive aspects compared to negative aspects. The externalboard members entail a broader and more advanced competence in the family company'sboard, which adds to and maintains the company's legitimacy.

Abstract Background The succession process of a family firm is associated with a number of challenges, and hence a potential for conflicts is strongly pronounced. However, succession is of utmost importance for a family firm, as it is the only way to avoid a company closure in the long run. Previous literature has already extensively researched the phenomena of conflicts in family firms. However, there is a lack of research that looks from a multi-perspective lens into the context of succession and post-succession conflicts. Therefore, in the present research, we examine how family businesses experience and cope conflicts that appear after a successfully mastered intrafamily succession. Purpose This study aims to advance the understanding of conflicts in family firms related explicitly to the context of successions and post-successions. Hence, the thesis aims to determine how conflicts that appear in these contexts are experienced and how they are coped with. Method The study follows a qualitative methodological approach and an inductive analysis. The sample consists of three companies and 14 research respondents, and the data was collected with semi-structured qualitative interviews. Afterwards, the data was coded, and the emerging patterns and themes have been formulated and presented with a general model. Doing so, the focus was on patterns of succession- and post-succession-related conflicts and their coping strategies. Conclusion Our findings reveal that succession and post-succession-related conflicts are experienced as evoked intangible and provoked tangible conflicts and these conflicts are consciously as well as unconsciously coped with. Furthermore, our findings suggest that succession and post-succession family firm conflicts appear as conflict loops. Hence, the coping mechanisms identified and presented are helpful to solve a conflict, but the loop can hardly be escaped.

No description available.

Recently the research on family firm internationalization has begun to consider socioemotional criteria (Debellis, Rondi, Plakoyiannaki, & De Massis, 2021). The effect of family social capital on internationalization strategies has received limited attention in the family business research (Debellis, Rondi, Plakoyiannaki, & De Massis, 2021). There are studies that focus on social capital and what role that has on operations in family firms. There is also a considerable amount of research regarding internationalization aspects connected to family firms (Arregle, et al., 2021). However, studies that try to link internationalization strategy with family social capital are lacking. This paper aims to fill that gap. The purpose of this study is to research how family firms’ social capital affects their internationalization strategy. The research strategy for this study was a multiple case study, using grounded analysis to analyze the empirical findings. The empirical data for this study has been collected through 8 semi-structured interviews with 7 family firms operating on an international level. The findings of this study show that family firms with strong family governance and social capital positively support internationalization strategy initiatives, especially in the relational dimension of family social capital. The cognitive dimension was not directly linked to as many of the themes that emerged from the data analysis as the relational dimension, but still proved to be of significant importance in the development of internationalization strategies.

No description available.

家族企業在全世界皆是商業活動中的重要組織型態。因此在過去就有許多國內外研究針對家族企業的特色以及其對績效的影響作探討，但結果相當分歧。因此，本研究希望藉由後設分析(meta analysis)研究方法將過去個別研究的結果，透過計量方法以獲得一特定結論。本研究蒐集23篇過去研究台灣家族企業績效之文獻共29個樣本，以後設分析效應量觀察台灣家族企業與非家族企業之績效是否有顯著差異；以及哪些干擾變數會影響家族企業與非家族企業的績效。在實證分析中，以敘述統計觀察，文獻結論多為家族企業績效優於非家族企業；而以後設分析的效應量觀察，發現總體效應量與個別以ROA、ROE、Tobin’s Q作為績效的效應量皆顯示家族企業的績效優於非家族企業，其中總體效應量和Tobin’s Q的效應量為統計上顯著，說明此研究範圍中家族企業績效較佳的發現。而觀察干擾變數的效應量，以ROA、ROE作為績效衡量時，文獻樣本數為顯著的干擾變數，當文獻樣本數在700以下時，家族企業績效優於非家族企業，樣本數700以上時，反之；在以ROE為績效指標時，文獻類別為具影響的干擾變數，當文獻為學術期刊時，家族企業績效遜於非家族企業，當文獻為學位論文時，反之；以Tobin’s Q作為績效指標的實證發現，以家族成員持股率為家族企業定義時，家族企業績效顯著優於非家族企業。以上實證結果證實了利益收斂假說與家族企業富不過三代之說法。 / Family firm is a significant type of business organizations in the whole world. Therefore, many researches have been done for discussing the characteristic of family firms and how family firms influence organization’s performance. However, the results are varied. Hence, the purpose of this thesis is to get a generalized conclusion about family firm’ performance by Meta analysis’s quantitative method which collect the results from past related researches. The samples of this thesis are from 23 past researches based on Taiwanese family firms. This thesis calculates Meta analysis’s effect sizes to examine the difference of performances between family firms and non-family firms and examine which are the moderator variables that impact the performances. Consequently, description statistics shows that most researches result the performances of family firms are better than non-family firms. In addition, Meta analysis also shows the same finding in total mean effect and Tobin’s Q which are statistical significances on effect size. With regard to moderator variables’ effect sizes, sample size is a moderator variable with statistical significance when ROA and ROE as performance index. While sample sizes are below 700, the performances of family firms are better than non-family firms, vice versa. Additionally, type of sample is a moderator variable when ROE as performance index. While simples are Journal articles, the performances of family firms are worse than non-family firms, vice versa. Furthermore, definition of family firm is a moderator variable as well when Tobin’s Q as performance index. While simples define family firms by family members holding rate, family firms’ performance are better. In conclusion, above findings prove that convergence of interest hypothesis and great men's sons seldom do well.

Background: Family Businesses represent the highest proportion of businesses in the world (Lin, 2012). Globalisation offers new business opportunities for growth and in-ternational diversification. Generally the internationalisation of family businesses is a well-studied field in family business research (Kontinen & Ojala, 2009). Still, there are certain shortcomings when it comes to the specific area of corporate governance adapta-tion in family firms that open subsidiaries (Calabro & Mussolino, 2011). Hence, this paper analyses the proceedings of family firms that internationalise through a subsidi-ary. From a methodological standpoint, existing studies concerned with family business internationalisation focus on quantitative research approaches. The results of these in-clude some limitations, since they cannot account for questions such as how and why family firms proceed during diversification (Kontinen & Ojala, 2009). Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the rationale behind corporate gov-ernance structures in family businesses, focusing on the special case of internationalisa-tion through a subsidiary. Frame of Reference: A summary of recent research regarding the three main issues family businesses, internationalisation, and corporate governance will be given in the frame of reference. This theoretical background will serve as the basis for a solid analy-sis of our empirical data. Method: A qualitative approach with an extensive literature review and a case study based on in-depth interviews with employees of the company Väderstad-Verken AB was chosen in order to fulfil the purpose. Conclusion: The rationale behind corporate governance structures when setting up a subsidiary abroad is driven by the ambition to preserve a family firms’ stewardship ori-ented culture and its informal structures. The result of this is better collaboration, which serves the mission of the business.

Forskningen om familjeföretag är relativt omfattande. Men det finns fortfarande många frågor som är obesvarade. En viktig fråga som berör familjeföretags utveckling är viljan att ta in extern kompetens inom ekonomiområdet. Det kan röra sig om tjänster såsom ekonomichef, controller eller redovisningekonom. I detta arbete har vi försökt besvara frågan om varför ledningen i familjeföretag väljer att ta in extern kompetens inom ekonomi. Teorin för fram att familjeföretag i det längsta drar sig för att ta in extern kompetens till förmån för den egna familjens medlemmar. Slutsatserna man kan dra efter att ha utvärderat svar från åtta familjeföretags VD:ar samt externt tillsatt personal inom ekonomi är att de till största delen ser mycket positivt på tillsättandet av extern personal inom ekonomi. De flesta för fram åsikten om att utan att tillsätta extern personal hade bolagen i fråga inte kunnat utvecklas så framgångsrikt som de har gjort. De ser extern personal inom ekonomiområdet som en styrka med avseende på de nya kunskaper, erfarenheter och kompetenser som kommer företagen till del. Det många pekar på i intervjerna är att man får in en person som kan komma med andra lösningar på problemen än de konventionella, men även en mindre känslosam attityd till familjeföretagets affärer, vilket kan vara en klar fördel. Nya synpunkter och kunskaper kommer företaget till godo. Dock är den personliga dynamiken med den externa kompetensen av stor vikt för företagen i undersökningen, man bör passa in i företagsandan samt vara lätt att ha att göra med, men ända ha integritet. Nackdelar som man har pekat på är till exempel om den externt tillsatte experten eventuellt slutar sin tjänst eller manipulerar bokföringen. Med tanke på alla de lagar och regelverk som styr företagens vardag krävs en hel del specialistkunskap inom ekonomiområdet, särskilt inom koncernredovisning, beskattning, bokslut och årsredovisning. Dessa kunskaper kan i ett fåtal fall tillgodoses av familjemedlemmar, men i de allra flesta företag är det kompetens man måste få in i företaget utifrån. Vi anser att vår undersökning har gett oss svar på de frågor som vi hade ställt upp angående familjeföretags syn på att anlita extern kompetens inom ekonomi. Nämligen att familjeföretag som vill utvecklas vinner mycket på att anlita extern kompetens inom ekonomi. Inte bara ekonomiskt utan även på många andra områden. Nyckelord: Familjeföretag, Extern ekonomisk kompetens, Bolagsstyrning, Familjeföretags komplexitet, Successionsplanering. / Research on family business is quite extensive. But there are still many questions that remain unanswered. An important issue relating to family business development is the desire to bring in external expertise in the finance area. It may involve services such as finance manager, controller or accountant. In this work the authors have attempted to answer the question of why the management of family businesses chooses to bring in external expertise in economics. The theory implies that the family business as long reluctant to bring in external expertise for the benefit of their own family members. The conclusions to be drawn after evaluating responses from eight family business CEOs and externally added staff in finance is that they are mostly very much welcoming the appointment of external staff in finance. Most of the view implies that without the addition of external staff, the companies would not develop as successfully as they have done. They see external staff within the finance area as strength for the new knowledge, experience and skills that businesses will benefit from. Many CEO: s advocates that you get in a person who can come up with other solutions to the problems than the conventional ones, but also a less emotional approach to family business affairs, which may be a distinct advantage. New ideas and knowledge will benefit the company. However, the personal dynamics of the external competence are of great importance to companies in the survey, it should fit into the entrepreneurial spirit and be easy to deal with, but still have privacy. Disadvantages as some have pointed out are for example, if the externally appointed expert may terminate their service or manipulate the records. Given all the laws and regulations that govern todays businesses requires a lot of expertise in economics, especially in the consolidated financial statements, taxation, financial statement and annual reports. This knowledge can in a few cases be met by family members, but in the vast majority of companies, you need to get the skills into the company from outside. We believe that our study has given us answers to the questions we had put up on the family company's approach to the use of external expertise in economics. Namely, those family businesses that want to develop win a lot of hiring external expertise in economics. Not just economically but also in many other areas. Keywords: Family firm, External financial competence, Corporate governance, Complexity of family firms, Succession planning.

Chinese compradors, official managers, and overseas Chinese capitalists have received scholarly attention of late with special notice to studying their contributions to China’s industrial modernization. This thesis shifts this emphasis to seeing these three groups of Chinese merchants as types of Chinese capitalist middlemen, whose principal efforts were in the commercial sector during the late Qing and early Republican periods. Specifically, it focuses on their activities within Shanghai’s International Settlements, where the openings for entrepreneurial innovation could be made the most of with little interference from Chinese state officials. The market created by Chinese capitalist middlemen is distinguished from the greater Chinese economy by its concentration in Shanghai’s International Settlements and its being a commercial revolution. Particularly, this thesis links entrepreneurial business history with New Institutional Economics by placing the entrepreneur at the heart of Chinese commercial development beginning in the 1860s. It investigates how the above three types of middlemen’s commercial activities impacted the structural organization of the traditional family firm, reshaping this organization into a modern operation. As the traditional Chinese family firm emerged in a political institutional framework that both favored firms’ risk reduction and official sponsorship, Chinese capitalist middlemen played a part in structurally re-organizing the family firm into the modern firm. Chinese entrepreneurial behavior arose through a social process of bridging, which occurred through Chinese middlemen’s daily interactive commercial activities in Western firms in Shanghai. In the cases of compradors, these acculturated practices were employed in their own family firms and reflected a novel risk-taking pattern wherein they engaged in new fields of enterprise. In the cases of guandu shangban enterprises, official managers evolved these firms to absorb the pricing mechanism and lower transaction costs to benefit customers and the firm’s revenue. In the cases of returned overseas Chinese capitalists, in this thesis Australian ones are examined, they capitalized their department stores’ operations through reinvesting overseas Chinese surplus income that had traditionally been returned as remittances home to China. All of them fashioned a cosmopolitan view of themselves and fostered a moral view that combined Confucian and Christian ethics giving rise to a notion of human capital as a form of commercial welfare. / Graduate