Family business best practices: Where from and where to?

Board characteristics and firm performance in public founder- and nonfounder-led family businesses

“…Because the relationship is weaker for FBs led by their founders, we can accept hypothesis H4. This result may suggest that, in FLFBs, other informal instruments such as the family council or meals and family gatherings are perceived by investors as a substitutive mechanism for formal meetings by boards, a perception that might downplay the importance of formal meetings of the board (Dana & Smyrnios, 2010). As Habbershon and Astrachan (1997) have asserted, a perception of shared beliefs may serve as an important stimulant for collective family activity, and thus, over generations, informal instruments can be expected to weaken because of the expansion of family ties and an increase in nonfamily members involved in the business.…”

“…Family councils are generally studied and discussed as a family governance mechanism in large families and very large FBs, and family meetings are advocated as ways of minimising agency issues and reducing agency costs in FBs. They are one of the practices most often suggested to FBs (Dana & Smyrnios, 2010). The perception of shared beliefs may be an important stimulant of collective family activity and these family meetings may increase perceived agreement among family members (Habbershon & Astrachan, 1997).…”

Family-owned manufacturing SMEs and innovativeness: A comparison between within-family successions and external takeovers

“…Nor was there a difference between management buy-ins and industry conglomerates, where it would have been expected that industry conglomerates would impose more changes (Dana & Smyrnios, 2010). The industry conglomerates as new owners let the companies run their own businesses, but with stricter reporting requirements and structured governance (board of directors, board meetings) than with the previous family-owners.…”

“…However, these values may well be changed if the company is taken over by an external party (cf. Abdellatif, Amann, & Jaussaud, 2010;Dana & Smyrnios, 2010;Webb, Ketchen, & Ireland, 2010 on the differences between family and nonfamily firms).…”

Introduction to Volume 1

“…The article by Dana and Smyrnios (2010) discusses the emergent literature on family business best practice and highlights the need to identify lessons for effective family firm governance and management that can be learned from successful, long-lasting businesses. The authors review lessons characterized as family business best practices by a number of researchers, the established meaning and use of the concept best practice in the business excellence movement, and the critique of several aspects of that use.…”