Coupling Family Business Research with Organization Studies: Interpretations, Issues and Insights
Abstract
Family-controlled firms are the most widespread form of business organization, but they have so far attracted limited attention from organizational scholars. The present work suggests that coupling research on family business organizations with organization studies will substantially benefit both areas of scholarly research. We explore how the five core defining features of family firms – ownership, management and governance, transgenerational intention, generational involvement and perceived identity – may be illuminated by extant research in organization studies, and how, in turn, organizational studies may be extended by investigating its key themes in the empirical context of family firms.
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Biographies
Carlo Salvato is a full professor of strategic management, entrepreneurship and family business strategy at Bocconi University in Milan, Italy. His current research focus is on organizational capabilities, with an empirical focus on family firms. He is the 2016 Chair of the Entrepreneurship Division of the Academy of Management, the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the Family Firm Institute (FFI), and a former associate editor of the Family Business Review. He has authored papers in journals such as Family Business Review, Academy of Management Annals, Academy of Management Learning and Education, Administrative Science Quarterly, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Journal of Management, Journal of Management Studies, Organization Science and Strategic Management Journal.
David Seidl is a full professor of organization and management at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, and a research associate at the Centre for Business Research (CBR) at Cambridge University, UK. His current research focus is on practice-based approaches to organization and strategy. He is a Senior Editor of Organization Studies and Associate Editor of Organization Theory. He was formally Chair of the Interest Group ‘Strategizing: Activities and Practices’ at the Academy of Management and a member of the executive board of the European Group of Organization Studies (EGOS). His work has been published in international journals including Academy of Management Annals, Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science and Strategic Management Journal. He has also written and (co)edited several books, including the Cambridge Handbook of Strategy as Practice (2012) and the Cambridge Handbook of Open Strategy (2019).
Leif Melin is a professor emeritus of strategy and organisation at Jönköping International Business School (JIBS), Jönköping University, Sweden. He was the Founding Director of CeFEO, the Center for Family Enterprise and Ownership and he has served as Dean and Managing Director of JIBS. His research focuses on strategizing and related practices, processes and arenas with an empirical focus on family owned businesses. He has published in international journals, including Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Management Studies, Strategic Organization, Family Business Review, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Journal of Management and Organization, and Long Range Planning. He has written and co-edited several books including “Strategy as Practice: Research Directions and Resources” (2007) and “Sage Handbook of Family Business” (2014). He has served on the editorial board of over ten international journals, including Organization Studies.
Francesco Chirico is a full professor of strategy and family business and Co-Director of the Centre for Family Enterprise and Ownership (CeFEO) at Jönköping International Business School (JIBS), Jönköping University, Sweden. He is also a Star Professor at Tecnologico de Monterrey, EGADE Business School, Mexico. His research focuses on the intersection of strategy and entrepreneurship with a special focus on family firms. His research has been published in leading international journals including, among others, Journal of Management, Entrepreneurship, Theory & Practice, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, Human Relations, Small Business Economics, Long Range Planning and Family Business Review.
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