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PurposeThe purpose of this research is to study the influence of professionalization on Moroccan family businesses and the challenges that hinder its success.Design/methodology/approachThe design is based on exploratory qualitative approach based on semi-directive interviews with 15 CEOs of unlisted Moroccan family businesses to gain a better understanding of CEOs' perceptions of management professionalization.FindingsThis research work gives rise to a result that professionalization helps family businesses cope with their competitive environment, improve the quality of strategic decisions and thus increase their performance. However, successful professionalization process requires certain cognitive, managerial, cultural and emotional skills that allow the overcoming of socio-emotional barriers and guarantee the efficacious implementation of change.Practical implicationsThis paper guarantees the identification of the mechanisms to be put in place to overcome the challenges that prevent the success of this professionalization by implementing a new professional culture inspired by family values and standards while respecting the conditions of economic profitability.Originality/valueThe originality of this paper lies in the analysis of the influence of professionalization on the family businesses' in the Moroccan context and the proposal of professionalization tracks to align with market requirements and strengthen the competitiveness of the company. Thus, this paper guarantees the identification of the mechanisms to be put in place to overcome the challenges that prevent the success of this professionalization by implementing a new professional culture inspired by family values and standards while respecting the conditions of economic profitability.

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to study the financial, family, and cultural incidences on the investment policy of unlisted Moroccan family firms passed on to the second generation or more in times of crisis.Design/methodology/approachThe design is based on an innovative methodological approach of contextualization in times of crisis with 20 unlisted Moroccan family firms, 3 sociologists and 2 researcher-experts in times of crisis.FindingsThis research work gives rise to a result that can be summarized through a logic of combined rationality. Explicitly, in the family business, it is necessary to combine the two effects: financial rationality in times of crisis, and the emotionality that reigns in family logic (everything that is culture, family traditions and psychological backgrounds) to make arbitrations in terms of investments.Originality/valueThus, the originality of this research is rooted by a field made up of transmitted Moroccan family firms. The major problems related to the investment of the family firm begin to emerge once there are a multitude of generations involved in the management. This accentuates the family and socio-cultural effects of family reputation and religiosity and the firm's strategic imitation. In this sense, this paper proposes a way forward in the research on family businesses, by integrating family and cultural logics following a hybrid approach that integrates these factors with classical financial logics.

The purpose of this research aims to study the relationship between the cultural specificities of the Moroccan context and the success or failure of succession strategies (in terms of planning and process) in the case of Moroccan unlisted family businesses. Our study covered a sample of 20 unlisted Moroccan family businesses, 8 of which are SMEs, 6 are large firms, and 6 are VSEs, through a qualitative research based on semi-structured interviews with the managers of family businesses. Our results explain the influence of Moroccan cultural specificities on the success or failure of the transfer of family businesses. Indeed, these influences essentially manifest themselves in three antecedents: the succession planning that already reflects the intention to pass on the family business to the next generations, either by having a well-prepared plan, or an absence of a succession plan that leaves things to chance; the succession process that is influenced in part by specificities of Moroccan culture by granting privilege to the eldest male in the succession, and in another part this process becomes more rational by giving credit to successors competent to take over the family business in the case of large family businesses; and cultural constraints that are manifested mainly by the taboos surrounding the death of the predecessor and religious principles that similarly explain the different configurations of success or failure of the succession strategy of the family business. An extension of this work could be a multi-factor analysis in future researches.

The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of succession events on the level and determinants of the financial performance of family businesses in the Arab world. This research is conducted through an empirical study on a sample of 166 family businesses in the Arab world. Firstly, the paper compares the financial performance of family businesses that continue to be managed by the founders with family businesses in which the management has been transferred to the successors. Secondly, this research identifies the determinants of the financial performance of the two categories through a multifactorial model based on the panel data method. The results revealed that succession negatively impacts the seizing of opportunities and growth in the market in the context of family businesses in the Arab region. Moreover, the paper clarifies the prudent policy that characterizes the transmitted family businesses, through the accumulation of resources and underinvestment. In this sense, this research provides evidence that family wealth and business affairs are interrelated in the tradition of clientelism, which is reflected in Arab countries by the transmission of family businesses to family successors. In other words, succession to inheritors is inevitable in the Arab context, and family businesses may show contradictory performances and stagnate, compared to first-generation family businesses.