Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • Publication
    Toward a Paradox Perspective of Family Firms: the Moderating Role of Collective Mindfulness of Controlling Families
    (Sage, 2013) ;
    Melin, Leif
    ;
    Nordqvist, Mattias
    ;
    Sharma, Pramodita
    Despite numerous attempts to establish the link between family involvement and firm performance, research findings are alarmingly inconsistent. Some researchers, mostly drawing from traditional economics, depict a very pessimistic picture, suggesting that family involvement is a source of fundamental inefficiency because of owner-owner agency conflicts, resource constraints, and family utility maximization that detracts from firm value maximization (Dharwadkar, George, & Brandes, 2000; La Porta, Lopez-De-Silanes, Shleifer, & Vishny, 2002; Morck & Yeung, 2003; Peng & Jiang, 2010). Other researchers, however, referring to reduced owner-manager agency conflicts, concerns for long-term organizational prosperity, and the provision of unique resources such as patient financial capital, suggest that family-owned firms outperform nonfamily firms (Anderson & Reeb, 2003; Barontini & Caprio, 2005; McConaughy, Walker, Henderson, & Mishra, 1998; Villalonga & Amit, 2006). This favorable perspective has found support in a recent meta-analysis of studies on family firm performance in the U.S. stock market, which indicate a systematic outperformance of family firms (Carney, Gedajlovic, & van Essen, 2011). While inconsistent empirical findings on fundamental questions are not uncommon in management research, the theoretical inconsistencies are particularly worrying and raise fundamental concerns about the adequacy of our linear reasoning on the (in)efficiency of family involvement. What is noteworthy is that the concerns for tensions and theoretical inconsistencies have been very prominent in earlier family business writings (e.g., Tagiuri & Davis, 1996; Whiteside & Brown, 1991). Unfortunately, however, and most likely in consequence to a shift towards empiricist research methodologies that are best suited to uncover linear relationships, the attention of academics over the last years has moved away from how family firms deal with tensions and competing forces.
    Scopus© Citations 57
  • Publication
    The Global STEP Booklet : Evidence-based, Practical Insights for Enterprising Families
    (The Global STEP Project, 2011-04-15) ;
    Nason, Robert
    ;
    Sharma, Pramodita
    ;
    For the past five years, researchers and practitioners in the Successful Transgenerational Entrepreneurship Practices (STEP) Project have worked together to explore one common question: How do family firms create value across generations? After five years it is time for STEP's network of 33 partner universities, 125 scholars and more than 75 families to reflect on our answers to this question. This booklet presents the first comprehensive effort to showcase what the global STEP community has discovered regarding the transgenerational success of family firms. Based on the common STEP research purpose and framework, this booklet presents the most interesting research findings of STEP members from around the world. Overall, we find that the major building blocks of our knowledge lie in the entrepreneurial attitudes and family-influenced resources of the firms. These factors contribute greatly to a firm's entrepreneurial and competitive performance. We explore these unique family capabilities throughout this booklet and learn how values, networks, knowledge, and governance contribute to generation spanning wealth creation
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