Intangible resources and family firm performance: the moderating role family involvement in strategy making

According to the RBV, intangible resources might be sources of sustainable competitive advantage because they are ingrained in the unique interaction between the family and its firm and inherently difficult to imitate by competitors. In this paper we set out to examine how two important intangible resources in the family business context, knowledge-based and reputational resources are linked to performance. In line with RBV literature proposing that resources alone do not confer a competitive advantage (Collis, 1995) we propose a contingency perspective for family involvement in strategy making. Indeed, we empirically show that the link between intangible resources and firm performance is moderated by family involvement in strategy making. The paper sheds new light on both the direct effects of reputational and knowledge-based resources on firm performance in family firms, and on the potential benefits and drawbacks of family involvement in continuous and disruptive strategy making on the efficiency of resource usage.