FAMILY FIRMS AND FAMILY BUSINESS: A CONCEPTUAL APPROACH ABOUT THE AMBIGUITIES, PARADOXES AND UNIQUENESS OF FAMILY BUSINESSES
Abstract
Family businesses are and have been vital in the European’s socioeconomic contexts. Notwithstanding their relevance and growing interest in academy, as well as in the institutional rationale, the study of family businesses is still a field that lacks autonomy and finds itself embedded in ambiguities, paradoxes and inconsistencies. This lack of systematisation not only compromises the process of data collection and research but consequently a better understanding of this phenomenon. Our purpose here is to discuss the constructs of family firm and family business. Based on the assumption that family firms are usually conceptualised as owned, totally or partially, by members of a family and are potentially intergenerational systems, with a perimeter of variable geometry, but usually rooted in a location, we aim to distinguish between the constructs of family firm and family business. We do this by discussing the concept(s) of family and then move on to the family businesses. Methodologically we carried out a literature analysis or review, based on Bourdieu’s (1972) “Theory of Practice”, understood as an approach that aims to overcome dichotomies in social theory, such as micro/macro, material/symbolic, empirical/theoretical, objective/subjective, public/private, structure/agency, and focuses on the understanding the practical logic of everyday life and understand relations of power. Enabling us to overcome the ambiguities and paradoxes that academically and institutionally surround the use of these constructs – family firms and family business. Our findings allowed us to sustain that the family business emerges as conceptual “leap forward”, i.e., the family firm becomes a family business when it becomes more strategically business-oriented. As an open system, the firm has a flow of inputs and outputs of members, which generate its unique configurations over time and potentiates intra and inter-clan conflicts and political and power struggles between family members and or among family members and their relatives and tends to create formal organisational structures (boards of directors) to assure its continuity and growth. In this context, when the above-mentioned criterion is met, the family business only exists from the second generation onwards.
Article visualizations:
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Almeida, João Ferreira (2013). Desigualdades e perspectivas dos cidadãos. Portugal e a Europa, Lisboa, Editora Mundos Sociais.
Barney, Jay B. (1991). Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage, Journal of Management, 17 (1): 99-120.
Barry, Laurent S., Bonte, Pierre, Govoroff, Nicolas, Jamard, Jean-Luc, Mathieu, Nicole-Claude, Gené, Enric Porqueres, D’onofrio, Salvatore, Wilgaux, Jérôme, Zempléni, András, Zonabend, Françoise (2000). Glossaire (Question de parenté), L’Homme, 154-155: 721-732.
Bass, Bernard M. and Avolio, Bruce J. (Eds) (1994). Improving Organizational Effectiveness through Transformational Leadership, Sage Thousand Oaks.
Bernhoeft, Renato, Gallo, Miguel (2003). Governança na empresa familiar, Rio de Janeiro, Campus.
Bienaymé, Alain (2008). La famille entrepreneuriale, 2èmes Journées Georges Doriot, 15-16 Mai, Paris.
Bornholdt, Werner (2005). Governança na empresa familiar: implementação e prática, Porto Alegre, Bookman.
Bourdieu, Pierre (1990 [1987]). Coisas ditas, São Paulo, Editora Brasiliense.
Bourdieu, Pierre (1980). Le capital social – notes provisoires, Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales, 31 (Le capital social): 2-3.
Bourdieu, Pierre ([1972] 1977). Outline of a Theory of Practice. Trans. Richard Nice. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.
Carlock, Randel S., Ward, John L. (2010). When family businesses are best: The parallel planning process for family harmony and business success, Palgrave Macmillan.
Casillas, José C., Moreno, Ana M. (2010). The relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and growth: The moderating role of family involvement, Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, 22 (3-4): 265-291.
Casillas, José C., Vásquez, Adolfo, Díaz, Carmen (2005). Gestão da empresa familiar: Conceitos, casos e soluções, São Paulo, Thomson Learning.
Chua, Jess H., Chrisman, James J., Sharma, Pramodita (1999). Defining the family business by behavior, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 23 (4): 19-39
Christensen, Clayton M., Bower, Joseph L. (1996). Customer power, strategic investment, and the failure of leading firms, Strategic Management Journal, 17 (3): 197-218.
D’allura, Giorgia; Erez, Amir (2009). The family as a group: Implications for governance and organizational performance in family firms, Per lo sviluppo, la competitività e l'innovazione del sistema economico. Il contributo degli studi di organizzazione aziendale, p. 252.
Déchaux, Jean-Hugues (2009). Sociologie de la famille, 2nd ed. Paris, La Découverte.
Donnelley, Robert G. (1964). The family business, Harvard Business Review, 42 (4): 93-105.
Drucker, Peter F. (1985). Innovation and entrepreneurship: Pratice and principles, Harper and Row, New York (portuguese translation to Júlio Soares Pereira, Inovação e gestão: Uma nova concepção de estratégia de empresa, Editorial Presença, Lisboa).
Dyer, W. Gibb (2006). Examining the “Family Effect” on Firm Performance, Family Business Review, 19 (4): 253-273.
Eisenstadt, Shmuel Noah (2001). Modernidades múltiplas, Sociologia, problemas e práticas, 35: 139-163.
European Commission (2009). Final Report of the Expert Group – Overview of Family – Business – Relevant Issues: Research, Networks, Policy Measures And Existing Studies. European Commission, http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/sme/index_en.htm, accessed 2 March 2019.
European Parliament (2015). Report on family businesses in Europe (2014/2210(INI)), Committee on Industry, Research and Energy. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/A-8-2015-0223_EN.html.
Fayolle, Alain, Bégin, Lucie (2009). Entrepreneuriat familial: Croisement de deux champs issu d’un double croisement, Management International, 14 (1): 11-23.
Ferreira, Manuel P., Serra, Fernando R., Santos, João C. (2010). Ser Empreendedor: Pensar, criar e moldar a nova empresa, 2ª ed., Lisboa, Edições Sílabo.
Floriani, Oldoni P. (2012 [2007]). Empresa familiar ou ... Inferno familiar?, 2ª ed., 1ª reimpressão, Curitiba, Juruá Editora.
Frank, Hermann, Lueger, Manfred, Nosé, Lavinia, Suchy, Daniela (2010). The concept of “Familiness”: Literature review and systems theory-based reflections, Journal of Family Business Strategy, 1 (3): 119-130.
Gallo, Miguel Angel, Klein, Sabine, Montemerlo, Daniela, Tomasell, Salvatore i et Cappuyns, Kristin (2009). La empresa multigeracional: El papel de la família proprietária, Pamplona, Ediciones Universidad de Navarra.
Gersick, Kelin E., Davis, John A., Mccollom, Marion M., Lansberg, Ivan (1997). Generation to generation: Life cycles of the family business. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
Giddens, Anthony (2013). Sociologia, 9ª ed., Lisboa, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian.
Gioia, Dennis A., Corley, Kevin G. et Hamilton, Aimee L. (2013). Seeking qualitative rigor in inductive research: Notes on the Gioia methodology, Organizational Research Methods, 16 (1): 15-31.
Goleman, Daniel, Boyatzis, Richard, McKee, Annie (2002). Primal leadership: Realizing the power of emotional intelligence, Boston, Harvard Business Press
Grant, Robert M. (1991). The resource-based theory of competitive advantage: Implications for strategy formulation, California Management Review, 33 (3): 114-135.
Habbershon, Timothy G., Williams, Mary L. (1999). A resource-based framework for assessing the strategic advantages of family firms, Family Business Review, 12 (1): 1-25.
Habbershon, Timothy G., Williams, Mary L., Macmillan, Ian C. (2003). A unified systems perspective of family firm performance, Journal of Business Venturing, 18 (4): 451-465.
Habbershon, Timothy G.; Mathias Nordqvist e Thomas M. Zellweger (2010). Trangene-rational entrepreneurship, in Nordqvist et Zellweger (Eds.). Transgenerational entrepreneurship: Exploring growth and performance in family firms across generations, Edgard Elgar Publishing Ltd, 2-37.
Heck, Ramona K. Z., Mishra Chandra S. (2008). Family entrepreneurship, Journal of Small Business Management, 46 (3): 313-316.
Irava, Wayne J., Moores, Ken (2010). Clarifying the strategic advantage of familiness: Unbundling its dimensions and highlighting its paradoxes, Journal of Family Business Strategy, 1 (3): 131-144.
Klein, Sabine B., Astrachan, Joseph H., Smyrnios, Kosmas X. (2005). The F-PEC scale of family influence: Construction, validation, and further implication for theory, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 29 (3): 321-339.
Kraus, Sascha, Harms, Rainer, Fink, Matthias (2011). Family firm research: Sketching a research field, International Journal Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management, 13 (1): 32-46.
Litz, Reginald A. (2008). Two sides of a one-sided phenomenon: Conceptualizing the family business and business family as a Möbius Strip, Family Business Review, 21 (3): 217-236.
Machado, Hilka V. (2005). Reflexões sobre concepções de família e empresas familiares, Psicologia em Estudo, 10 (2): 317-323.
Magueijo, João (2003). Faster than the Speed of Light (tradução portuguesa de Paulo Ivo Teixeira, Mais rápido que a luz, Gradiva, Lisboa, Maio de 2003)
Marques, Ana Paula (Coord.) (2018). Empresas familiares da região norte mapeamento, retratos e testemunhos, Centro Interdisciplinar de Ciências Sociais (CICS.NOVA) – Polo da Universidade do Minho (UM) Associação Empresarial de Portugal (AEP)
Mcenany, Robert and Strutton, David (2015). Leading the (r)evolution: Succession and leadership rules for re-entrepreneurs, Business Horizons, 58 (4): 401-410.
Moreira, José Manuel (2009). Leais, Imparciais & Liberais, Lisboa, Bnomics.
Nordqvist, Mattias, Melin, Leif (2010). Entrepreneurial families and family firms, Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, 22 (3-4): 211-239.
Paul-Henri, Lauwe, Marie-José Chombart (1965 [1950]). A evolução contemporânea da Família: estruturas, funções, necessidades, Análise Social, 3 (12): 475-500.
Payne, G. Tyge (2018). Reflections on family business research: Considering domains and theory, Family Business Review, 31 (2): 167-175.
Penrose, Edith (1959). The theory of the growth of the firm, Basil Blackwell, Oxford.
Pessoa, Fernando (1926). Palavras iniciais, Revista de Comércio e Contabilidade, 4, 1-2.
Pichault, François, Schoenaers, Fréderic (2003). HRM practices in a process of organizational change: A contextualist perspective, Applied Psychology: An International Review, 52 (1): 120-143.
Randerson, Kathleen, Bettinelli, Cristina, Fayolle, Alain, Anderson, Alistair (2015). Family entrepreneurship as a field of research: Exploring its contours and contents, Journal of Family Business Strategy, 6 (3): 143-154.
Relvas, Ana Paula, Alarcão, Madalena (Coord.) (2007). Novas formas de família, 2ª ed., Coimbra, Quarteto.
Rodrigues, Jorge (2019). Família empresária: Estrutura, recursos e poder, Lisboa, RH Editora.
Rodrigues, Jorge, Marques, Maria Amélia André (2013). Governance bodies of family businesses, Revista de Empresa Familiar, 3 (1): 47-58.
Rosa, Maria João V., Chitas, Paulo (2010). Portugal: Os números, Lisboa, Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos.
Schein, Edgar (1984). Coming to a new awareness of organizational culture, Sloan Management Review, 25 (2): 3-15.
Sharma, Pramodita, Hoy, Frank, Astrachan, Joseph H., Koiranen, Matti (2007). The practice-driven evolution of family business education, Journal of Business Research, 60 (10): 1012-1021.
Tondo, Cláudia (Org.) (2010 [2004]). Desenvolvendo a empresa familiar e a família empresária, Porto Alegre, Editora Sulina.
Van de Ven, Andrew H. (1989). Nothing is quite so practical as a good theory, Academy of Management Review, 14 (4): 486-489.
Wernerfelt, Birger (1995). The resource-based view of the firm: Ten years after, Strategic Management Journal, 16 (3): 171-174.
Wernerfelt, Birger (1984). The resource-based view of the firm, Strategic Management Journal, 5 (2): 171-180.
Williams, Fiona 2010 [2004]. Rethinking Families (tradução portuguesa de João Bragança), Repensar as famílias, Cascais, Principia.
Wyrwich, Michael (2015). Entrepreneurship and intergenerational value transmission, Small Business Economics, 45 (1): 191-213.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejsss.v0i0.698
Copyright (c) 2019 Jorge Rodrigues, Maria Amélia Marques
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
The research works published in this journal are free to be accessed. They can be shared (copied and redistributed in any medium or format) and\or adapted (remixed, transformed, and built upon the material for any purpose, commercially and\or not commercially) under the following terms: attribution (appropriate credit must be given indicating original authors, research work name and publication name mentioning if changes were made) and without adding additional restrictions (without restricting others from doing anything the actual license permits). Authors retain the full copyright of their published research works and cannot revoke these freedoms as long as the license terms are followed.
Copyright © 2016 - 2023. European Journal Of Social Sciences Studies (ISSN 2501-8590) is a registered trademark of Open Access Publishing Group. All rights reserved.
This journal is a serial publication uniquely identified by an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) serial number certificate issued by Romanian National Library. All the research works are uniquely identified by a CrossRef DOI digital object identifier supplied by indexing and repository platforms. All the research works published on this journal are meeting the Open Access Publishing requirements and standards formulated by Budapest Open Access Initiative (2002), the Bethesda Statement on Open Access Publishing (2003) and Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities (2003) and can be freely accessed, shared, modified, distributed and used in educational, commercial and non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Copyrights of the published research works are retained by authors.
