Matti Koiranen

Over 100 Years of Age But Still Entrepreneurially Active in Business: Exploring the Values and Family Characteristics of Old Finnish Family Firms

This article, based on an exploratory study of old Finnish family firms, examines two main research questions: “How do certain firms that have been involved in business for over one century perceive and rank their business values]” and “How do the members of the owner-families self-assess their family characteristics in these century-old family firms]” There are only 68 companies that belong to either the FBN-Finland Association (Perheyritysten liitto ry) or the Association of Finnish Entrepreneurs (Suomen yrittäjät ry) that are over 100 years of age. The data, based on self-assessments of the present active family executives working at the top level, were drawn from 10 FBN companies and 17 non-FBN companies (response rate 39.7%). When ranking the values, the Finnish respondents generally scored the desirable modes of conduct much higher than the desirable end-states. The top values were honesty, credibility, obeying the law, quality, and industriousness, which are all modes of good ethical conduct. The values of yielding good economic return to owners, willingness to grow, and to get social recognition all scored surprisingly low. The adjectives best describing the characteristics of owning families were: committed, responsible, fair, hardworking, and successful.

Understanding the Contesting Ideologies of Family Business: Challenge for Leadership and Professional Services

This paper examines how a family business system serves as the ideological arena of three cultural forces—entrepreneurialism, managerialism, and paternalism—that are, to a great extent, contesting ideologies based on different rationalities, or schools of thought. Furthermore, it reinforces the view that a family business system is the combination of three interacting subsystems (management, ownership, and family life)—a form of business that is challenging both for leaders and professional service providers. The approach of the study is conceptual and cultural. It bases its theoretical background on the developments of Johannisson and Huse (2000) and Tagiuri and Davis (1996). A summary of the key results appear in the synthesis of ideological tensions and are further developed in the suggested C3-model, emphasizing the need for balance among creation, caring, and control.

Spread of franchising: a multinational comparison based on the notions of innovation diffusion

Investigates the globalization of franchising through a discussion of the literature on innovation diffusion. Proceeds then to evaluate the globalization of format franchising in 31 countries, drawing data from Arthur Andersen’s multi‐national study. Finds that the USA has the greatest number of franchisors and franchisees, Japan seems to have a different franchise structure when compared to the other countries studied, and Israel is a franchising novice. Presents a number of tables, accompanied by notes of caution on analysing the statistics. Mentions briefly some examples of franchises. Refers the findings back to the literature review to assess how well they match the theoretical descriptions of innovation diffusion. Discusses some elements of franchising, looking at innovation and replication, maturity, collectivism versus individualism, juridical issues and educational differences. Suggests areas for further investigations and outlines the author’s proposed research undertakings.