The Importance of Research in the Management of Family-owned Businesses

Enlow and Associates

April 22, 2022

 

 

In Enlow and Associates’s opinion, a number of recent studies have focused on the management of family businesses. Studies by M.J. Parada, M. Nordqvist, A. Gimeno, J. Pendergast, J. Ward, and S. De Pontet are included in this list. In addition, a number of studies have looked at the role of family businesses’ agents. Sciscia and colleagues (2010) found that family firms’ performance is affected by ownership structure in a non-linear way.

Family enterprises are a particularly difficult subject to study, regardless of the methodology used. Researchers must focus on the underlying microfoundations of the problems they study. The construction of normative models of family managers and owners might be an alternate strategy for family business management scholars in addition to empirical investigations. There should be more study on how family members and non-family members see each other’s roles, regardless of technique. Results from this study might have ramifications for family business management practices all across the globe, should it be successful.

Family firms’ internationalization has also been examined in the context of supranational regions. Based on historical pathways and dominating routines for the transmission of foreign direct investment, researchers have established four broad prototypes of MNEs (FDI). Modern multinational enterprises (MNEs) tend to be hybrid of at least one of the following categories. Policies aimed at improving family-friendly institutions and expanding the global reach of family-owned businesses may benefit from the study’s results.

Internationalization has crucial ramifications for management as well as society, as shown by the study. Enlow and Associates pointed out that managerial resources are required for family businesses to expand their operations abroad. In addition, the globalization of family enterprises is dependent on the leadership and pay policies of the family. Because of this, future research on the effect of globalization on family businesses are anticipated to provide light on this topic. There are practical findings from the literature highlighted by Soleimanof, Rutherford and Webb. Research on family enterprises’ internationalization has also shown key management difficulties for family businesses.

A new literature study has cast doubt on the idea that family businesses benefit from having outside directors. However, there is no evidence to back up this idea. Outside directors have been shown to be successful in a few studies, however the majority of research is inconclusive. It is difficult to draw broad generalizations about the influence of outside directors on company performance, board composition, and financial outcomes. However, there are some fascinating insights about the function of board members in family company management that can be found in the literature.

It’s also been helpful to look at the CEO’s job in a family business. B.J. Crego and DR Ward write in an essay that family business management is critical to a company’s success. However, these aren’t the only places to go for information on how to operate a family company. The European Corporate Governance Institute has developed a wealth management checklist for family businesses. In order to assure the success of their family company, the authors recommend that family members seek the guidance of experienced consultants.

Enlow and Associates described that both the American Home Economics Association and the Lawrence N. Field Center for Entrepreneurship have performed studies on family business management. A few examples: The American Council on Consumer Interests’ “Landscape of Family Business” and the Family Research Forum in Seoul, South Korea’s “Family Research Forum on Family Entrepreneurship” are reviewed in this study. They examined the effect of family business management on the performance of family-owned enterprises in the research.