Panikkos Zata Poutziouris

The Views of Family Companies on Venture Capital: Empirical Evidence from the UK Small to Medium-Size Enterprising Economy

This explorative research paper draws evidence from a database of small to medium-size unquoted private companies (n = 240) in the UK and reports on the family business and venture capital relationship from the demand side. Following the review of literature relating to financial affairs of private companies, the main research inquiries are outlined and a set of generic hypotheses is elicited based on the pecking order theory—that is, private companies, including family-controlled ventures, have a propensity to finance their operations in a hierarchical fashion, first using internally available funds, followed by debt and, finally, external equity (Petitt & Singer, 1985). Univariate statistical analyses confirm that family companies adhere strongly to the pecking order principles of financial development. The paper explores factors governing the rationale of owner-managing directors of private and family companies for considering venture capital dealings as well as main areas of concern about the deal structures. The paper then concludes with a discussion of the policy implications from the perspective of the owner-manager, financier, and enterprise policy maker. To encourage equity development of smaller privately held companies, particularly family firms, there is room for policy initiatives that respect the financial philosophy of private companies.

Handbook of Research on Family Business

During the previous decade, the multi-disciplinary field of family business has advanced significantly in terms of advances in theory, development of sophisticated empirical instruments, systematic measurement of family business activity, use of alternative research methodologies and deployment of robust tools of analysis. This second edition of the Handbook of Research on Family Business presents important research and conceptual developments across a broad range of topics. The contributors - notable researchers in the field - explore the frontiers of knowledge in family business entrepreneurship and stimulate critical thinking, enriching the repository of theoretical frameworks and methodologies.

Patterns in Strategy Formation in a Family Firm

Despite the fact that about 90 percent of all the businesses in the US and Canada are family‐owned and operated, very little research has been undertaken on how strategy is shaped in family businesses. This paper tracks strategy in two family firms since their inception to their present third generation management, to investigate the unique factors influencing strategy in family businesses. The paper accentuates issues relating to the intensive grooming process and the involvement of the different family and non‐family members in the strategic decision making processes of the family business.

Guest editorial A commentary on family business entrepreneurial developments

Introduces the special issue which focuses on family business entrepreneurial developments. Outlines the articles in the issue which not only increase our repository of family business research, but also provide useful insights for new research addressing topics such as family business centred ethnic entrepreneurship, “interpreneurship” and “intrapreneurship”, succession planning, financial philosophies; governance‐boards, consultation‐communication practices, and strategy formulation.

Introduction: The Business of Researching Family Enterprises

The Handbook of Family Business Research is a substantial collection of papers manifesting recent advances in the theory and practice of family business research. This compilation is, to a large extent, in response to the extensive growth of the family business discipline as a topic of academic inquiry. The principal objective underlying this volume was to provide readers with a compilation of authoritative and scholarly papers, providing an overview of current thinking and contributing to the further advancement of the field.

Introduction: trends and developments in family business research

The second edition of the Handbook of Research on Family Business extends Poutziouris et al. (2006) by delivering a series of contemporary scholarly conceptual and empirical research papers that advance our critical thinking and identify recent advances in the field. A considerable amount of water has passed under the bridge since Craig Aronoff’s (1988) article on the megatrends in family business almost a quarter of century ago. Since this time, the family business glacier has not only responded to climatic changes, but is now attracting researchers identified with other disciplines including sociology, anthropology, psychology, economics, finance, law, management, strategy, marketing and accounting, inter alia. Researchers are gaining a heightened appreciation of family business, challenging and contributing to our collective wisdom. As a result, the field is charting new waters and terrains. These influences are having a fundamental impact not only on our thinking, but also on our research and practice. Family business scholarship has moved beyond what might be regarded as emergent to a phase of rapid growth, admittedly from a relatively low baseline (Astrachan, 2010). Recently, Stewart and Miner (2011) reported that an interrogation of the ProQuest’s scholarly Business journal’s section between 1985 and 2009 shows an annual growth rate of 12.4 per cent, significantly higher than the overall rate of growth in publications. Similarly, Astrachan and Pieper (2010) stated that bibliometric research carried out by Elsevier indicated a 17 per cent annual growth rate over the previous 12 years in the number of papers dedicated to family business. In 2009, Bart Debicki and colleagues undertook a content analysis of 394 family business articles published across 30 management journals between 2001 and 2007. Chapter 2 of this Handbook extends their research to cover the period from 2001 to 2009. This examination identifies strategy implementation and control, including the subthemes of structure, evolution and change, leadership and change, and corporate governance as being the most popular topics of investigation. Despite these trends, the development of family business related theory is lagging to the point that this deficiency can be regarded as one of the main contributors retarding the emergence of the family business as a respected scholarly field in its own right. As Stewart and Miner (2011) stated, this lacuna has created a window of opportunity ‘for theoretical development, an important requirement for a core presence in research universities’ (p. 3). Research published in toptier journals and doctoral student numbers also remain at the margins. The International Family Enterprise Research Association (IFERA) has come a long

Handbook of Research on Family Business, Second Edition

Edited by Kosmas X. Smyrnios Professor of Family Business Entrepreneur ship, School of Management, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia Panikkos Zata Poutziouris Professor of Entrepreneur ship and Family Business and Head, Business and Management School, UCLan Cyprus Sanjay Goel Associate professor of Strategic Management and Entrepreneur ship, Labovitz School of Business and Economics, University of Minnesota Duiuth, USA