Sharon M. Danes

The impact of the family and the business on family business sustainability

Identifies strategies that would help familiesincrease both business and family success. Data from the 1997 National FamilyBusiness Survey were used to gather a nationally representative sample offamily businesses. Using this sample, three types of interviews were conducted:a screen interview to establish eligibility, a household manager interview, anda business manager interview. Findings indicate that, contrary to business theory assumptions, the effectof the family on business ventures is large. The most important finding is thatthe success of the business depended on family processes and how the familyresponded to disruptions rather than simply how the owner managed the businessalone. Key factors that lead to increased revenue include: reducing familytension, hiring temporary help during hectic periods, reallocating sleep timerather than family time to the business, and living in a two- orthree-generation family. This study is one of the first empirical studies to utilize the sustainablefamily business (SFB) model as its guide—a brief review of previous research onthe SFB model is also presented.(SFL)

Family Capital of Family Firms: Bridging Human, Social, and Financial Capital

The purpose was to present a family capital typology based on Sustainable Family Business Theory II and to document its relative contribution to short-term firm achievements and long-term sustainability using National Family Business Survey panel data. Family capital was defined as total owning-family resources composed of human, social, and financial capital. Family capital significantly contributed to firm achievements and sustainability. In the short term, all family capital types explained 13.5% of gross revenue variance and 4% of owner’s success perception variance. In the long term, all family capital types explained 26.7% of gross revenue variance and 11.6% of owner’s success perception variance.

Revisiting the Study of Family Businesses: Methodological Challenges, Dilemmas, and Alternative Approaches

Family businesses are vital but understudied economic and social units. Previous family business research is limited relative to its definitions, sampling, and resulting empirical evidence. This paper presents an alternative methodological approach to the study of family businesses with the potential for allowing multiperspective and detailed analyses of the nature and internal dynamics of both the family and the business and the interaction between the two.

Women's Role Involvement in Family Businesses, Business Tensions, and Business Success

This paper is based on a study of 391 family-business-owning couples where the husband is the business owner. The purpose of the study was to examine the work involvement of the wife in the business, the business tensions, and the impact of those tensions on family business success. Fifty-seven percent of wives worked in the business, 47% of whom were paid. Forty-two percent of wives were considered major decision makers. Having more than one decision maker in the business impacted certain types of inclusion tension. Business and family success outcomes varied by level of tensions. There was initial evidence of a threshold where business tensions begin to affect business success negatively.

THE EFFECTS OF ETHNICITY, FAMILIES AND CULTURE ON ENTREPRENEURIAL EXPERIENCE: AN EXTENSION OF SUSTAINABLE FAMILY BUSINESS THEORY

Entrepreneurs have been traditionally epitomized as rugged individuals garnering creative forces of innovation and technology. Applying this traditional, limited, and narrow view of entrepreneurship to ethnic firm creation and growth is to ignore or discount core cultural values of the ethnic contexts in which these firms operate. It is no longer possible to depend solely on human capital theory and household characteristic descriptions to understand the complex and interdependent relationships between the ethnic-owning family, its firm, and the community context in which the firm operates. This paper addresses the complex dynamic of ethnic firms with three purposes: (a) to provide a cultural context for the three ethnic groups composing the National Minority Business Owner Study; (b) to extend the Sustainable Family Business Theory, a dynamic, behaviorally-based, multi-dimensional family firm theory, by clarifying how it accommodates ethnic firm complexities within their cultural context, and (c) to derive implications for research, education and consulting with worldwide applications.

Predictors of Family Business Tensions and Goal Achievement

The purpose of this study is to investigate predictors of business tensions and family and business goal achievement within family businesses. Household managers identified higher business tensions and higher goal achievement levels than did business managers. A family health assessment (APGAR) was the highest predictor of business tensions for both household and business managers. Total business tensions was the most significant predictor of business goal achievement for both business and household managers, and family health (APGAR) was the largest contributor to family goal achievement for both managers.

Family FIRO Model: An Application to Family Business

This study applies the Family FIRO model, one of interpersonal dynamics and change, to family businesses (specifically, to family farming couples). It empirically tests the developmental sequence of three dimensions of the model: inclusion, control, and integration. Findings indicate that both a sense of inclusion in a family business and the manner in which control issues are managed have important influences on family business integration. Because inclusion predicts control dynamics, effective control may not be diminished without adequate levels of inclusion. The study offers practitioners a theory-based approach to working with the complex dynamics within family businesses. Family businesses will remain more resilient in times of change if the leaders understand and reassess patterns of inclusion when change is initiated.

Tracking family businesses and their owners over time: panel attrition, manager departure and business demise

Abstract Analyses of business owners from whom data were gathered in 1997 and 2000 are used to predict two family business phenomena: the continued involvement by the owner-manager in the business and the continuation of the business. The most important factor in continuity is the respondents assessment of the business as a success; successful businesses continue or are sold or gifted when the owner-manager leaves the business. Ceasing to be involved in a business should not be viewed as a business or a managerial failure. Some changes may be failures, but others should be viewed as ordinary business or family developments.

Father-Daughter and Father-Son Family Business Management Transfer Comparison: Family FIRO Model Application

The purpose of the study was to investigate power structures and interactions among father-daughter and father-son family business decision teams experiencing management transfer. Analytic induction was the methodology used to test the family FIRO theory. Support was found for the theoretical premise of sequential and developmental relationships among the three dimensions (inclusion, control, and integration). The women in the father-son business experienced feelings of exclusion, incidents of higher conflict among family members, which produced less shared meaning, and lower levels of integration among family members. On the other hand, women in the father-daughter business experienced feelings of inclusion, resulting in lower conflict that created high levels of shared meaning, collaboration, and integration among family members. In management transfer consultations, if the entire family business decision team is not included in information gathering, and if the decision team is not observed interacting as a group, with individuals being allowed to confidentially confirm or refute the group interaction data, biased information may be obtained. For more successful adaptations in management transfers, power structures and interactions need to be reconstructed; failure to do so leads to confusion and conflict, resulting in distrust and lack of fellowship within the management decision team.

Business Planning Practices of Family-Owned Firms within a Quality Framework

Study purpose is to investigate the contribution of an integrated, interfunctional approach to quality management, inclusive of family/business interface management, to the success of 572 small family firms, using multiple measures of success (congruity and business revenues). A positive customer reputation was the most important business goal for 44.6 percent of firms. Interface and business management significantly explained business revenue and congruity between business and family while controlling for owner and business characteristics. Family/business interface management explained 9.7 percent of congruity variance and 8.2 percent of gross revenue variance, whereas business management explained 3.3 percent of congruity variance and 2.2 percent of gross revenue variance.