Daniel Pittino

When Do Non‐Family CEOS Outperform in Family Firms? Agency and Behavioural Agency Perspectives

Family firms represent a globally dominant form of organization, yet they confront a steep challenge of finding and managing competent leaders. Sometimes, these leaders cannot be found within the owning family. To date we know little about the governance contexts under which non-family leaders thrive or founder. Guided by concepts from agency theory and behavioural agency theory, we examine the conditions of ownership and leadership that promote superior performance among non-family CEOs of family firms. Our analysis of 893 Italian family firms demonstrates that these leaders outperform when they are monitored by multiple major family owners as opposed to a single owner; they also outperform when they are not required to share power with co-CEOs who are family members, and who may be motivated by parochial family socioemotional priorities.

Alliance Governance and Performance in SMEs: Matching Relational and Contractual Governance with Alliance Goals

The article offers authors insights on the alliance governance and performance in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It states that throwing some light on the process of alliance governance mechanism selection is the objective of the research by SMEs. It adds the evidence provide by the study on the effect of relational and formal governance on the alliance performance.

Front end innovation and stakeholder involvement in machine tools sector

Are there differences among companies operating pursuing different types of innovation in the organisational settings and in the combination of internal and external competencies employed to innova ...

Fly Away From the Nest? A Configurational Analysis of Family Embeddedness and Individual Attributes in the Entrepreneurial Entry Decision by Next-Generation Members:

This study aims to determine how family embeddedness conditions combine with the goals and attributes of individuals with a family business background to engender to two patterns of entrepreneurship: succession in the family business and foundation of a new venture. Our empirical study is conducted using 169 cases of entrepreneurs operating in Italy. Inductively building on the configurations derived from the analysis, we suggest a series of theoretical propositions focusing on family embeddedness, individual attributes, and entrepreneurial paths of next-generation family business members.

Financial performance and non-family CEO turnover in private family firms under different conditions of ownership and governance.

Manuscript Type Empirical Research Question/Issue Family firms, as insider-controlled companies, should be less likely to exhibit CEO turnover after poor performance and may thus promote enhanced focus on long-term goals. However, when a non-family CEO is in charge, the relatively limited empirical evidence is contrasting. Some studies find that only family CEOs are immune from the threat of dismissal following poor financial performance, other studies show that family firms discipline their CEOs for poor financial performance regardless of their family status. In this work, we try to reconcile these contrasting findings and investigate what ownership and governance conditions influence the owners’ pressure on the CEO to achieve short-term financial results. Research findings/insights Drawing on a longitudinal dataset that covers the entire population of Italian medium and large family companies, we find that when family ownership is concentrated in the hands of few family shareholders or there is a low number of family members involved in the board of directors, non-family CEOs are less likely to be dismissed after poor performance. Theoretical/Academic Implications Our study, adopting the behavioural agency theory as the guiding framework, highlights the importance for the governance decisions of the potential goal divergence among principals in closely held ownership structures. Our results also add to the still scant literature on the relationship between family owners and non-family CEOs. Practitioner/Policy Implications Our research suggests that family business owners, in the decision to hire a non-family CEO should not only assess their gaps in managerial skills but also carefully consider the ownership structure and family involvement conditions. On the side of professional non-family managers, our results offer insights on ways to address the employment relationship with the controlling family.

Corporate governance and advanced forms of internationalisation in Italian SMEs

The majority of small firms lack the resources and competences required to implement advanced international strategies and to engage in global business activities; small firms face considerable barriers when attempting to engage in international partnerships, joint ventures and foreign direct investments, and are more likely to fail than large firms. In this paper, we investigate the role of corporate governance system in providing the small firms with resources and competences and in promoting the changes in the entrepreneurial culture which are necessary to pursue advanced internationalisation strategies. Results suggest that the governance system is important for the cooptation of new members in the strategic decision-making groups of the firm and indicate that the environmental context can be an important moderating variable in the relationship between corporate governance and internationalisation.

Family Firm Density and Likelihood of Failure: An Ecological Perspective

This chapter aims at establishing a link between family business research and regional science. Drawing from the density dependence model from organizational ecology and embeddedness theory, we develop four testable propositions to inquire about the effect of the emergence of family firms’ agglomerations in the territory on firms’ survival.

Co-leadership and Performance in Technology-Based Entrepreneurial Firms

The notion of co-leadership, defined as a structural arrangement where the formal responsibilities at the top of the company are attributed to multiple persons, is receiving increasing attention in recent years as one of the possible conceptualizations of the leadership “in plural form”. Our research aims at exploring the performance implications of co-leadership arrangements in the top management teams (TMTs) of technology based entrepreneurial firms, and at evaluating how such impact is likely to occur. The study is carried out on a sample of technology based entrepreneurial firms operating in Italy. Our study contributes mainly to the literature on co-leadership, by identifying different structural configurations of plural leadership and by shedding some light on the paths through which co-leadership arrangements have an impact on company performance.

Roots to Grow: Family Firms and Local Embeddedness in Rural and Urban Contexts

The present study analyzes the nexus among business growth, ownership structure, and local embeddedness—that is, the involvement of economic actors in a geographically bound social structure—in rural and urban contexts. This work combines regional economics with studies on family business and firm growth and uses a coarsened matched sample of privately held Swedish firms. The findings indicate that family firms benefit more than nonfamily firms from local embeddedness and as such they achieve higher levels of growth and that this effect is more pronounced in rural areas. Research implications are shared in the Conclusion section.

Alliance governance in entrepreneurial firms: the influence of family control and organizational size

This Handbook provides a unique collection of research addressing issues of corporate governance in entrepreneurial contexts, including start-ups, owner-managed firms, fast-growing firms, and IPOs, as well as how corporate governance and board leadership is associated with entrepreneurship and innovation in both small and large established companies. The chapters span a wide range of topics, methodologies, and levels of analysis, all designed to contribute to a comprehensive understanding of when and how corporate governance matters in different entrepreneurial contexts.