Family business and regional science: “Bridging the gap”

Stough, Roger R.; Welter, Friederike; Block, Joern; Wennberg, Karl; Basco, Rodrigo

doi:10.1016/j.jfbs.2015.11.002

Cited by 71 publications

(84 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…The main contextual elements for small family firms in seeking legitimacy can be delineated as follows: a. the variable "time," which influences the ability to identify and exploit opportunities (Short, Ketchen, & CL, 2010) and which helps bind families with past strategies (Zahra, 2006); b. the development of various industries, related and unrelated (Zaheer, & A, 1999); c. spatial dimensions, characterized by the geographical location (Clark, Feldman, & Gertler, 2006); the morphology, institutions and demographic aspects of the population (Saxenian, 1994); and d. the social and cultural dimensions (Hayton et al, 2002;Russell, 2005;Thornton, Ribeiro-Soriano, & Urbano, 2011;Ramadani et al, 2017). In the present study, the most relevant contextual factors are represented by institutional, spatial and cultural aspects; this is in line with Stough, Welter, Block, Wennberg, and Basco (2015) who identified these aspects as exogenous elements that drive the creation of family businesses and their evolution (Basco, 2015). In sum, managing a small family firm is not merely an economic process but instead, one that draws from many contextual elements.…”

Section: The Relevance Of the Contextual Levelsupporting

confidence: 82%

Handling Innovation in Small Family Firms: The Role of Context

Floris¹,

Dettori²,

Dessi³

2020

IJBM

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Innovation management in family firms is a paradoxical challenge. The constant tension between innovation and tradition confers to this topic a fascinating mystery area that calls to action scholarly efforts and further studies to underscore whether family firms are innovating or not. This debate becomes even more intriguing and interesting when family businesses are small-sized and embedded in local contexts strongly attached to traditions and cultures that inhibit change. Based on the curiosity of analyzing the innovation proclivity of small family firms rooted in such a context and building on previous studies that were focused on innovation in family run businesses, we deeply investigated two cases. Findings uncovered a twofold and opposite role of the context:  on the one hand, a constraint and, on the other hand, leverage of innovation. Interesting scholars and practical implications are discussed, and future studies are suggested.

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Section: The Relevance Of the Contextual Levelsupporting

confidence: 82%

Handling Innovation in Small Family Firms: The Role of Context

Floris¹,

Dettori²,

Dessi³

2020

IJBM

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“…Evert et al (2016) screened 465 papers from 1988 until 2014 and found that none of the 319 articles published in the Family Business Review addressed the issue of family business at country or industry level, and only very few The aggregate approach is missing from these works as well. Although family businesses have a strong contribution to regional development (e.g., Adjei et al, 2016;Block, 2013), the regional perspective seems to be extremely rare in the FB literature (Stough et al, 2015). Yu, Lumpkin, Sorenson, and Brigham (2011) review the dependent variables used in family business research, and points to the ones that deserve more attention in the future.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(Backman & Palmberg, 2015;Cucculelli & Storai, 2015;Welter, 2011). Conversely, the impact of FBs on local economies is significant in terms of employment and overall economic development (Basco, 2015;Memili, Fang, Chrisman, & De Massis, 2015;Shanker & Astrachan, 1996) and can also add to the existing spatial inequalities (Stough et al, 2015).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shaped by location? A spatial panel analysis of Romanian family businesses

Goschin

Druică

Vâlsan

2020

Regional Science Policy & Practice

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Research on family firms needs to be placed in a proper socioeconomic and territorial framework, since the explicit inclusion of the geographic context deepens the understanding of their characteristics. Our study tackles this neglected spatial dimension by mapping some of the factors that impact the territorial distribution of Romanian family businesses compared to non-family ones. To this end, we employ spatial panel models that offer compelling evidence on spatial interactions and provide a better perspective on the forces shaping the geography of family firms. Consistent with previous studies, the most consequential factors of influence appear to be foreign direct investments, population density and growth, unemployment and urbanization. Our research provides new findings as well, revealing that family businesses respond differently to the regional environment, compared to nonfamily firms, and are more likely to be driven by tradition, rather than market opportunities.

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“…The special issue seeks for a better understanding of the relationship between family firms and their local economy (Block and Spiegel 2013;Stough et al 2015). It is often assumed that family firms have a strong connection to their home regions (Bird and Wennberg 2014).…”

Section: Family Firms' Local Roots and How They Impact The Local Economymentioning

confidence: 99%