Innovation heterogeneity in family firms: Evidence from the date industry in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

<jats:p> Researchers have argued that family firm innovation is paradoxical in nature, in that family firms often display less innovation than their nonfamily counterparts, yet they are able to be more innovative. The aim of this article is to unpack this paradox by exploring how differences in family firms’ ability (discretion and resources) and willingness (economic and noneconomic) affect their innovation activities. We adopt a qualitative, interpretive methodology based on four case studies of Saudi family firms operating in the indigenous date industry. Our findings emphasize the importance of having all four sources of ability and willingness in order for innovation to occur and how, when the new generation enters the business, the family firm’s innovation posture changes to either ‘lagging’ or ‘reviving’. By exploring innovation in the date sector in Saudi Arabia, we contribute to the ability–willingness paradox by distinguishing between the different sources of ability and willingness and add to an emerging narrative that acknowledges the integration of past knowledge with new innovative practices as an important and unique mechanism by which family firms can harness innovation. </jats:p>

Negotiating the female successor–leader role within family business succession in China

“…We argue that China is an important context in which to explore this, as 'family' refers to the 'extended family' (Chen et al, 2018;Yan and Sorenson, 2006) and Confucian family values 1 emphasise hierarchy and women's obedience to men. Indeed, the Western 'nuclear family' model still dominates family business research (Alrubaishi et al, 2020;Byrne et al, 2018), resulting in a lack of understanding regarding important differences in family structure across cultures (Mussolino et al, 2019). In contrast to nuclear families in the West, Chinese Confucian families are found to be more rigid in their leadership and relationships, stricter in birth-order hierarchy, more authoritarian in parental control and more dependent across generations (Sison et al, 2020).…”

Scrutinizing innovation performance of family firms in efficiency-driven environment

“…The role of familiness has largely been overlooked in innovation literature (Kraus et al, 2012;Alrubaishi et al, 2020). Limited evidence suggests that the FFs investment in R&D depends on family control and non-financial goals (Koropp et al, 2013;De Massis et al, 2015;Sciascia et al, 2015;Duran et al, 2016).…”

“…Evidence points out that innovation behaviour of FFs changes over time (Zahra, 2005). As inter-generational shifts in leadership takes place, attitudes of FFs towards risk, diversification, and technology change as well (Craig, 2006) and FFs become complacent and less innovative (Cassia et al, 2012;Duran et al, 2016;Alrubaishi et al, 2020;Hernandez-Perlines et al, 2020). The product innovation intensity seems also facilitated with introduction of organizational innovations (Kraus et al, 2012).…”

“…Across the world, family firms (FFs) dominate the structure and output of many economies (Xi et al, 2015;Basly and Hammouda, 2020) but many aspects of their behaviour remain unexplored (Aiello et al, 2020). One such area is FFs innovation behaviour (De Massis et al, 2013;Alrubaishi et al, 2020). According to KPMG (2017) innovation is among the top three concerns of FFs.…”

“…Whether in such setting innovation behaviour of FFs differs from the one observed in existing literature on advanced countries is unknown. The behaviour of FFs is shaped with the historical, temporal, institutional, spatial and social context in which they operate (Alrubaishi et al, 2020) and the same holds for their ability and willingness to innovate (Calabro et al, 2019). Risk averse, inward oriented and resilient to change FFs in efficiency-driven environments may prefer stability of production driven-business model over uncertainty of innovations more than their counterparts in advanced world (De Massis et al, 2013;Nieto et al, 2015;Duran et al, 2016;Aiello et al, 2020;Hu and Hughes, 2020).…”