Mojca Duh

Requisitely holistic ethics planning as pre-condition for enterprise ethical behaviour

Purpose ‐ Ethical behaviour of enterprises can be attained only by planning of ethics. The purpose of this paper is to show the need for the business ethics planning, to disclose the need for the requisitely holistic planning of enterprise ethics, and to offer the concept of the requisitely holistic planning of enterprise ethics. Design/methodology/approach ‐ The research cognitions on the importance of ethical core values, enterprise culture, ethical climate and informal as well as formal measures of business ethics are discussed and argued in application of the dialectical systems theory. The various research insights are used and applied in concluding concept of requisitely holistic planning of enterprise ethics. Findings ‐ For successful implementation of the ethics program or plan, it is important that the program is internalized by all enterprise’s stakeholders. The paper shows that credibility and ethical behaviour of an enterprise can be achieved only through requisitely holistic planning of enterprise ethics. Practical implications ‐ This paper gives us the insights in the state of the importance and interconnection between ethical core values, culture and ethical climate as well as informal and formal measures of business ethics in relation to enterprise ethics implementation. The present research paper also has important practical implications since it shows the importance of the requisitely holistic planning of enterprise ethics in a sense of sustainable development of enterprises as well as enterprises’ long-term success. Originality/value ‐ The available literature does not provide for a similar research or concept of requisitely holistic planning of enterprise ethics. The paper also models the interconnection between core values, culture, climate and informal as well as formal measures of business ethics in order to understand the importance of enterprise ethics.

Growth ambitions and succession solutions in family businesses

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to establish whether succession problems in family businesses contribute to more modest growth aspirations compared to family businesses where succession solutions are gained. It aims to focus especially on transition countries, where studies on this topic are very rare.Design/methodology/approach – The main data source for the study was a telephone survey of 350 small to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in Slovenia. To obtain population estimates, 95 percent confidence intervals were calculated. To test the differences in the case of two independent samples, the t‐test and χ2‐test were used. The general criterion for accepting the hypothesis that differences exist was the statistical signification at the 5 percent level (p< 0.05; two‐tailed).Findings – The research shows that a high proportion of family enterprises in Slovenia are going to face the problem of succession in the near future. Research results also suggest that anticipation of an increase in the number o...

Family business succession as knowledge creation process

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to broaden the understanding of family business succession as organizational knowledge creation process. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is built on organizational knowledge creation theory and reviews literature on family business succession. Four modes of knowledge conversion are followed to identify knowledge creation activities contributing to family businesss knowledge base and to develop propositions. Findings – Successful realization of succession depends not only on “traditional” knowledge creation activities of socialization and internalization, but as well as on active involvement of successor(s) in many aspects of business functioning. This contributes not only to widening successor(s) knowledge base but as well as to the firms tacit and explicit knowledge triggering a new spiral of knowledge. Research limitations/implications – The paper limits the research on leadership succession as one of the most challenging tasks in family businesss life c...

The use of institutional measures for business ethics implementation in family and non-family businesses: Does a family matter?

The case study research methodology in combination with quantitative methods was applied to explore the influence of a family on the emergence and presence of informal and formal institutional measures of business ethics implementation. For the empirical testing, we have selected Slovenia, one of the most developed European post socialist transition countries. Our research reveals that the role modeling is presented to a greater extent in family than in non-family businesses; this measure is the most popular measure of encouraging ethical behavior in family as well as in non-family businesses. The core value statement is presented to a greater extent in non-family than in family businesses, reflecting the less formal mode of family businesses functioning. Key words: Family, family enterprise, case study, informal and formal measures of business ethics implementation, ethical behavior, transition economies, Slovenia. INTRODUCTION At the most basic level, a family enterprise may be defined as an enterprise which is controlled by members of a family. However, family enterprises are not homo-genous. Empirical research has revealed that, among others, family enterprises vary, regarding the degree of family involvement in ownership and management (Astrachan et al., 2002; Aronoff and Ward, 2002; Sharma, 2004; Westhead and Cowling, 1998; Poutziouris et al., 1997; Duh et al., 2009). The family is an intimate room where the core values, culture, as well as ethical climate of the family, as well as of the broader environment is shaped (Duh and Belak, 2009). It is also where the first social relationships are formed, which differ from relationships with people outside the family circle. The process of family education and upbringing form the foundation for the focused expectations of every single family member upon which the trust and firmness of family relations are built (Bogod and Leach, 1999). The family system forms fundamental principles, core values,

Special knowledge needs of family enterprises in transition economies: experiences from Slovenia

In many countries throughout the world the majority of enterprises are family ones. Particularities in the development and management of family enterprises create needs for special knowledge. Therefore, in providing knowledge to these enterprises consideration must be given to their complexity, which is derived from the involvement of a family in ownership and management. In this paper, we discuss the importance of knowledge created and transferred from external sources such as counselling, publications, and education and training programs. External sources of knowledge considering the unique characteristics of family enterprises are well developed in many countries with established market economies. In Slovenia and, we believe, in many other former socialist countries, such external sources of knowledge are rare and still developing. The results of our research in Slovenia show that more than two-thirds of family business owners-managers regard such sources of knowledge as unimportant. This paper analyzes the reasons for such a finding.

Knowledge transfer in family businesses and its effects on the innovativeness of the next family generation

Processes of transferring, interacting, sharing and converting knowledge are of crucial importance in any firm due to their influence on innovations. These processes are especially challenging during the family business succession. A theory-building qualitative study was undertaken to extend our understanding of the dynamics of the knowledge transfer process and its effects on the successor’s innovativeness. The findings of the in-depth analysis of 10 family SMEs show that tacit knowledge transferred from a founder to a successor is important but not sufficient for enhancing the successor’s innovativeness. It should be combined with the knowledge gained outside the family business. Several propositions were developed that provide basis for future confirmatory research and have implications for practice by providing useful findings to key stakeholders in family businesses as well as to professionals dealing with innovativenness, knowledge transfer and creation in family businesses.

The importance of culture for enterprise dynamics: the role of type and strength of culture

Abstract Nowadays, enterprises can gain and sustain a competitive advantage in hypercompetitive environments for only a limited period of time. In order to be able to do that, enterprises must be dynamic. Even though – several authors suggest a positive association between organisational culture and the enterprise’s dynamic – we are still lacking the empirical support for such assertion. Therefore, we empirically tested the association between the type and strength of culture and the level of enterprises’ dynamics. Since organisational culture and the enterprises’ dynamics are both a complex phenomenon, we applied a case study approach combined with quantitative methods. The research indicates that the adhocracy culture type positively influences the level of enterprises’ dynamics. Regarding the strength of culture, our research results show that positive effects of strong culture exceed the eventual negative effects of such culture and positively influence the level of enterprises’ dynamics.

Successors’ Innovativeness as a Crucial Succession Challenge of Family Businesses in Transition Economies: The Case of Slovenia

This contribution aims to broaden our understanding of factors affecting innovativeness of successors in family businesses in transition economies. In-depth literature review was conducted and three main constructs were identified as having considerable impact on successors’ innovativeness and that are: entrepreneurialism, knowledge transfer and creation, and social capital. We applied a multiple-case study approach and the main research findings of ten cases of Slovenian family businesses are discussed. We developed six propositions that provide a basis for further empirical testing of factor influencing successors’ innovativeness and innovation ability of family businesses in transition economies.

Slovenian Entrepreneurship Observatory 2000

Slovenian Entrepreneurship Observatory 2005 shows some aspects of Slovenian entrepreneurship in the previous year. We provide the basic features of Slovenian companies, as can be seen from the economic and statistical data. The analysis included all those companies, which in 2004 submitted the annual reports at AJPES. We have analysed four topics: 1) evaluated the ambitions of established entrepreneurs in Slovenia with regard to their future growth in comparison with the growth ambitions of emerging and new entrepreneurs; 2) analysed the cooperation and partnerships between enterprises, reasons, forms and areas of cooperation and impacts of the effectiveness of cooperation on the competitiveness of small and medium-sized businesses compared with large enterprises in Slovenia; 3) analysed the differences in age, size, export orientation, performance and aspirations for growth between family and non-family small and medium-sized enterprises in Slovenia; 4) studied the internationalization of small and medium-sized enterprises, and added a survey of major works by Slovenian authors who have written about entrepreneurship in 2005.

Educating Succeeding Generation Entrepreneurs in Family Businesses – The Case of Slovenia

Succession has been recognized as one of the major problems of family businesses and, for this reason, has become one of the most researched topics in the family business research field [2, 48, 50]. Family businesses represent an important share in the structure of all firms. According to research findings, more than 70% of all firms worldwide [45] are family ones, most of them being micro, small or medium-sized firms (SMEs). According to some research results, such as [20, 32], between 40% and 80% of Slovenian businesses are family SMEs, with the majority owned by the first generation of the family [17]. Recently, the discussion in Slovenia has focused on the problem of transferring family firms to the next generation. Family SMEs established in the 1990s are approaching the critical phase of transferring firms to the next generation. Owners/managers of these firms, mostly founders, have practically no experience in managing the succession process due to the lack of a succession tradition in Slovenia. As Slovenia is one of the innovation followers with a below average performance, the enhance‐ ment of innovativeness and entrepreneurial orientation of successors and their firms is of crucial importance for the future of Slovenia as an innovative society.