In family firms, CEO successions are key events for firms’ sustainable development, and different types of successors may influence firm behaviors in significantly different ways. To respond to the mixed results of extant studies and unveil the underlying effects, this study adopted a socioemotional wealth perspective. The hypothesis was that family firms with internal succession are more likely to be involved in behaviors that could increase the socioemotional wealth of the family, including corporate innovation, diversification strategies, and corporate philanthropy. Using data on Chinese publiclylisted family firms from 2008 to 2017, the above hypotheses were tested. Results largely showed support for the hypotheses. Multiple methods were employed to mitigate endogeneity problems and enhance robustness. Overall, this study contributes to the current research on family leadership by proving that internal family succession has a positive influence on preserving the socioemotional wealth of the family. / Business Administration/Strategic Management

Problem: Several extant studies argue that family firm tend to invest less or even tend to avoidR&D investments, yet R&D investments are essential for sustaining competitive advantage of afirm as they facilitate innovation. Nevertheless, under certain circumstances family firms couldalso prefer R&D investments. Departing from these knowledge and drawing upon resource-basedview & dynamic capabilities concepts, this thesis will explore how family firms perceive R&Dinvestments, furthermore, it will investigate factors influencing R&D investments in family firmsthrough an in-depth qualitative approach. Purpose: To explore how family firms perceive R&D investments in the first place by utilizingSwedish family firms as the context which is aimed to provide a new viewpoint on R&Dinvestments in family firms from an in-depth approach. Furthermore, the study extends toinvestigate factors which have influence on whether or not family firms undertake R&Dinvestments Method: The study applies multiple case studies strategy with six cases in total and eightrespondents. To support the study, semi-structured interview is used to collect the data, inaddition to researcher's note. The analysis of empirical findings comprises of two parts, firstly,the empirical findings are presented per case which are followed by the summary of findings fromall cases at the end based on the theoretical lenses. Afterward, a cross-case analysis is conductedto observe emerging patterns which are used to further adapt the preliminary conceptualframework made from frame of references. Conclusions: Family firms according to their views on R&D could be divided into two groups.The first group consists of the firms without a dedicated R&D focus or firms that perceive R&D asembedded activity, while the latter is the firms with dedicated R&D focus. According to the waysthey perceive R&D, they subsequently put different emphasis on R&D investments. The firstgroup is rather reactive toward R&D, while the latter group is more proactive. These differencescould be explained by the internal and external influences (factors) which are found through theuse of resource-based view and dynamic capabilities. The internal factors are specialization,organizational culture and family history, while the external ones are trends and competition.Trends and specialization are found in almost all cases, and they explain the early engagement(without dedicated focus) of R&D in the firms. However, unlike trends, specialization mightpotentially lead to negative propensity toward R&D investments because of the competitiveadvantage gained from being specialized and knowledgeable in certain area. However, whencompetition comes into play, it might shift the circumstance by encouraging the firm to leave its“comfort zone”, thus would encourage R&D endeavors, in particular R&D investments especiallywhen the firm aims to lead in the market. Meanwhile, organizational culture could also be acatalyst for firms to focus on R&D, but it is very dependent on the culture instilled in the firmwhether or not it would encourage R&D. Firms with risk aversion, as suggested by literature andalso found in one of the cases would distance the firm from R&D investments. On the other hand,firms that show continuous learning and failure tolerating within their culture tend to put morefocus on R&D. And the last one, family history, which is found in three cases suggest a positiveinfluence toward R&D investments. The inventive behavior of the founder or former generationsis implanted in the family history, and being preserved by the current generations as corporateidentity or guiding values, of which contribute positively toward R&D investments in the firm.

Denna studie undersöker förekomsten av informationsinnehåll i utdelningsförändringar i börsnoterade svenska företag under åren 2006-2015. För att besvara forskningsfrågan undersöks sambandet mellan utdelningsförändringar och framtida vinstnivåer. Vi använder variabeln familjeägande som kontrollvariabel och undersöker om familjeägande påverkar förekomsten av ett informationsinnehåll negativt. Familjeägande bedöms i denna studie som företag med minst 20 procent av rösträtterna tillhörande en familj samt minst en familjemedlem närvarande i styrelse eller ledning. Vi finner att utdelningsförändringar ger information om vinstnivåer innevarande år då förändringen genomförs men ej de två efterföljande åren. Inga belägg hittas för att familjeägande negativt skulle påverka förekomsten av informationsinnehåll. Vidare finner vi stöd för att avvikelse från historisk avkastning på eget kapital signifikant påverkar vinstnivåer. Vi finner därmed stöd för att vinst är mean reverting. / This paper examines the presence of information contents in dividend changes in Swedish listed companies between the years 2006-2015. To answer the research question the connection between dividend changes and future profit levels is examined. We include the variable family ownership as a control variable and examine whether family ownership negatively affects the occurance of information contents. In the study, family ownership is defined as companies controlled by 20 percent by a family and having at least one family member on the board or in an executive position. We find evidence that changes in dividend provide information about profits the actual year of the change, but not the two following years. No proof is found that family ownership negatively affects this information content. Moreover, we find evidence that deviation from the historical return on equity significantly affects the profit levels. We therefore give support to the existence of a mean reversion in earnings.

This study is a reflective analysis of the perceptions of senior executives in family businesses that relate to their personal experiences of having been mentored. The study presents an overview of the topic of mentoring, defines key terms, and identifies questions addressed in the research. The rationale for this study rested on two facts. First, mentoring in non-family businesses constitutes the majority of the literature. That literature supports the importance of mentoring. Secondly, mentoring in family businesses has not been researched.

Family firms the most common form of business in the world and the academic interest around them has grown significantly over the past decades. When a company is experiencing financial growth their information needs increases and they are encouraged to draw up plans to cover the information need. Previous studies on the subject have pointed out that the research on formal plans in family firms is incomplete in many areas. The research that has been done indicates that planning is not a priority in small family firms for various reasons and that the planning carried out is largely informal. Whether family firms implement more planning practices as they increase in size is haven’t been tested in qualitative research. The purpose of this study is to increase the understanding of how small family firms in Skaraborg change their use of formal plans when they are experiencing a period of financial growth and if the growth of the family firm is affected by it being planned or not. To answer this, we have selected 13 formal planning practices that we have studied the presence of in our case companies and if there was any change in the use of these practices over their most recent growth period. The study was conducted with a qualitative research method where data collection has been in the form of semi-structured interviews. This is to increase our ability to create a deeper understanding of our selected area of research. The results of the study have shown that small growing family firms perform few changes in their planning practices. We have not been able to demonstrate in the context of this study that financial growth increased the use of formal planning practices in family firms in Skaraborg. Our conclusion of this study is that if small growing family firms are going to change their use of formal planning and benefit from it, it is not enough to rely on external help for this. Instead these companies should focus their resources on educating current management staff in the use of formal planning practices and the difficulties that arises along financial growth to see the connection between the two. Just because financial growth increases the need for information that doesn’t mean that any planning to cover the information need will be implemented. A leader in the enterprise must discover the need and choose to use a planning practice to cover it. / Familjeföretag är den företagsform som är vanligast i världen och det akademiska intresset kring dessa har ökat markant under de senaste decennierna. När ett företag upplever tillväxt ökar deras informationsbehov och de uppmanas att upprätta planeringar för att hantera informationsbehovet. Tidigare studier inom ämnet har tryckt på att forskningen kring formella planeringar i familjeföretag på många områden är ofullständig. Den forskning som är gjord tyder på att planering inte är prioriterat i mindre familjeföretag av olika anledningar och att den planering som utförs är informell till stor del. Huruvida familjeföretag implementerar fler planeringspraktiker när de ökar i storlek saknas det dock kvalitativ forskning om. Syftet med denna studie är att öka förståelsen för hur små familjeföretag i Skaraborg ändrar nyttjandet av deras formella planeringar när de upplever en tillväxtperiod och om tillväxten i ett familjeföretag påverkas om den är planerad eller ej. För att besvara detta har vi valt ut 13 formella planeringspraktiker som vi studerat förekomsten av i våra fallföretag och om det skedde någon förändring i användningen av dessa över deras senaste tillväxtperiod. Studien har genomförts med en kvalitativ metod där datainsamlingen har skett i form av semistrukturerade intervjuer. Detta för att öka våra möjligheter att skapa en djupare förståelse kring vårt valda undersökningsområde. Studiens resultat har påvisat att små växande familjeföretag utför få förändringar i deras planeringspraktiker. Vi har därför inte kunnat påvisa inom ramen för denna studie att tillväxt ökar användningen av formella planeringspraktiker i familjeföretag i Skaraborg. Vår slutsats i studien är att om små växande familjeföretag ska förändra deras användning av formella planeringar och ha nytta av dem är det inte tillräckligt att anlita extern hjälp för detta. Istället bör dessa företag fokusera resurser på att utbilda nuvarande ledningspersonal i användningen av formella planeringspraktiker och svårigheter som uppkommer med tillväxt för att de ska se kopplingen mellan dessa. Bara för att tillväxt ökar informationsbehovet implementeras ingen planering för att täcka det, en ledare i företaget måste upptäcka behovet och välja att använda sig av planeringar för att täcka det.

The paper analyses the relationship between succession and firm performance. Applying a non-parametric matching approach on a panel of roughly 4,000 Austrian family firms we evaluate the impact of past succession as well as future succession plans on employment growth. Analysing succession plans, we do not find a 'shadow of succession' effect. No significant difference in employment growth is found between firms that plan to transfer the firm in the next ten years and those who do not. In contrast, past succession exerts a significant and positive employment growth effect which becomes stronger over time. Thus, our findings provide support for the existence of a positive employment shadow after a transfer, whereas the shadow of succession hypothesis has to be rejected prior to transition. / Series: Discussion Papers SFB International Tax Coordination

Conventional wisdom suggests that firm’s patenting choice is largely due to strategic considerations such as industry competition and the prominence of the invention. We explore this issue from a managerial discretion perspective, suggesting that patenting choice facilitates managerial discretion via earnings management. On the one hand, not filing patents generates a more opaque information environment for market scrutiny, suggesting higher chance of earnings management. On the other hand, stewardship theory indicates that managers use trade secrets to protect their intellectual property. We find that non-patenting firms do not engage in financial earnings management while their real activity based earnings management is lower than patenting counterparts. On average, non-patenting choice does not lead to harmful opaqueness.

Research on Open Innovation (OI) is flourishing and opening the innovation process is increasingly perceived as a vital source for sustained competitive advantage. Nascent research on OI in family firms left us to wonder whether the performance-enhancing effects of OI also hold true for family firms. What we do know so far is despite that family firms typically possess greater ability to innovate, they lack the willingness to do so. Taking this as a starting point, the purpose of this study was to identify sources of family firm heterogeneity, in order to explain how these differences influence their willingness to engage in OI and further assess the overall relevance of OI models for family firms. In an attempt to resolve the innovation paradox, the present study builds upon a multi-theory approach of behavioral lenses, to capture the inherent complexities of family firm innovation. Empirical evidence from a cross-industry analysis of 176 German Mittelstand firms provides strong support for the importance of OI practices in a family firm context. Precisely, we affirm that family firms generate increased performance outcomes when engaging in OI. Our findings unearth a double-edged sword that higher generations foster a family firm’s willingness to engage in OI, but hamper their ability to benefit from it. Our findings are especially relevant in light of current market dynamics and build the bridge between OI and family firm research in an insightful manner. We thereby contribute to solving one piece of the innovation puzzle and identify promising areas for future research.

Introduction: Family firms serve as major block in the economy all over the world, i.e. it’s significance cannot be understated. In spite of this, many firms fail to continue the firm’s quest beyond the second generation partly because of conflicts in the firm. Conflicts, which could be divided into task, relationship and process conflict, have been deemed to only be detrimental for family firms. As such, limited knowledge exists as to what positive effects conflict may bring about in family firms. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore what the positive effects of different conflict types may be in family firms. The different conflict types are in this respect deemed to be task, relationship and process conflict. Method: The empirical material used for the purpose of this study has been gathered through 10 semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 9 different family firms. The data collected has subsequently been analyzed and conceptualized using grounded analysis (codes to themes) with an overall inductive method. Conclusion: Our findings and analysis suggest that several positive effects are associated with the different conflict types in family firms and that the family dimension of the firm work as enablers for these effects to occur. Task conflict produces a sharpened environment for task accomplishment through the enabler proximity to top level of firm. Relationship conflict result in stronger group cohesion through the enabler family feeling. Process conflict generate improved focus on task through the enabler going concern of the firm.

Background: Succession is a crucial concern for family business owners where an issue of importance is to retain the control within the family. Succession is a planned process which must be put in place to rearrange the leadership from one family member to another. It is a fragile process which requires a precise and in- depth planning as a result of the different essence of family firms. One of the most thriving and successful entrepreneurship regions in Sweden is the GGVV-region, Gnosjö, Gislaved, Värnamo and Vaggeryd, located in south of Sweden and consists of many family firms. Most of the companies in the GGVV-region are successful, at the same time, family firms in this region manage to go through successions and keep the business within the family. However, there is a little research available on succession within the GGVV-region. Purpose: The purpose of this research is to discover and examine the individual- and organizational level factors involved in succession for family members within family firms in the GGVV-region. The study will also identify what challenges family firms in this region deal with during the succession process. Method: The research was made with a qualitative approach, using in-depth, semi-structured interviews to collect the data. Ten face-to-face interviews were conducted with family firm owners in order to gather information about the succession process. An inductive approach has been used to analyze and interpret the data. Conclusion: It was concluded that common individual level- and organizational level factors has a major impact and is of importance when it comes to the succession process within the GGVV-region. Furthermore, it was also found that challenges such as; understand the complexity, clear work description andreleasing the control tend to have a crucial role within the succession process.