The Field Guide to Family Business Research is a concise and accessible guidebook that addresses the unique challenges associated with conducting high-quality family business research. Intended for both new and more experienced scholars, experts provide essential guidelines and insightful ‘best practices’ for overcoming these challenges.
The Field Guide to Family Business Research is a concise and accessible guidebook that addresses the unique challenges associated with conducting high-quality family business research. Intended for both new and more experienced scholars, experts provide essential guidelines and insightful best practices for overcoming these challenges. Comprehensive in scope and split into three key parts, the book addresses general, qualitative and quantitative challenges and their various solutions. Chapters examine three primary research challenges: failure to demonstrate a clear and unique contribution to the extant literature; failure to properly frame and align an argument's theory and hypothesis; and finally, failure to measure and conduct appropriate methodological and empirical approaches to a study. Ultimately, the solutions presented offer a better understanding of the unique aspects of conducting research in the family business domain. With a wealth of expertise and practical information, this guide will be of great benefit to anyone conducting research in family business. It will be especially helpful to researchers and students of business management, law, public policy and social policy as well as consultants and practitioners in the field of family business.
Family business is the most prominent form of business organization, and its importance to the global economy cannot be under-estimated. Until recently, the impact of the family on entrepreneurial firms has been under-researched, leading to a conceptual gap between the two areas of study, and an underestimation of the contribution of family systems to entrepreneurial success. Starting from the consideration that family is an intimate and essential aspect of entrepreneurship, this book considers connections between family, family members, entrepreneurial behavior, family business, society and the economy. Bringing together a unique range of international contributions, it offers new theoretical perspectives and empirical insights as well as an in-depth consideration of the diversity of contexts and processes associated with entrepreneurship in family settings. Above all, this book opens up a comprehensive research agenda on the linkages between family, family firms and entrepreneurship and will be of interest to researchers, educators and advanced students of entrepreneurship, small firms and family business.
We all face tough choices: business executives, community leaders, and family members all struggle with difficult decisions on a daily basis. What we decide reveals what really matters to us; how we decide determines whether we succeed or fail. Developed over twenty years in settings as diverse as hospital bedsides and corporate boardrooms, A Field Guide to Good Decisions provides the skills to make decisions that reflect your core values while respecting those of others, including the long-term implications for all participants. Illustrated through many real-life examples that will resonate with readers both professionally and personally, A Field Guide to Good Decisions offers practical tools and techniques for identifying individual and common goals, reaching consensus, and communicating the results effectively. The authors also show readers how to overcome common obstacles to good decision-making (psychological, cultural, and organizational). Ultimately, this book is about making decisions which, while not always a matter of life or death, nevertheless have a powerful effect on our sense of self, our credibility in the eyes of others, and the lives of those touched by the choices we make. Decision making is always personal. Each of us makes important decisions at work, in the community, and at home. When we face tough choices, what we decide reveals what really matters to us; how we decide determines whether we succeed or fail. Business executives, community leaders, and family members all struggle with difficult decisions: a senior management team makes an important choice about whether to pursue an acquisition; a baby-boomer decides whether to place an elderly parent in assisted living; a non-profit administrator considers laying off employees to have money and continue serving the community. For each, the steps toward a good decision are the same: know your values, engage others to understand theirs, and communicate with respect and candor. Simple in concept, not so easy in practice—but making a good decision demands nothing less. Developed over twenty years in settings as diverse as hopsital bedsides and corporate boardrooms, A Field Guide to Good Decisions provides the skills to make decisions that reflect your core values while respecting those of others, including the long-term implications for all participants. Illustrated through many real-life examples that will resonate with readers both professionally and personally, A Field Guide to Good Decisions offers practical tools and techniques for identifying individual and common goals, reaching consensus, and communicating the results effectively. The authors also show readers how to overcome common obstacles to good decision-making (psychological, cultural, and organizational). Ultimately, this book is about making decisions which, while not always a matter of life or death, nevertheless have a powerful effect on our sense of self, our credibility in the eyes of others, and the lives of those touched by the choices we make.
This timely Handbook provides a comprehensive guide to the methodological challenges of qualitative research in family business. Written by an international, multidisciplinary team of experts in the field, the Handbook provides practical guidance based on the experiences of senior researchers, and features reflective discussion on how to craft insightful, rigorous studies.
The Routledge Companion to Family Business offers a definitive survey of a field that has seen rapid growth in research in recent years. Edited by leading scholars with contributions from the top minds in family business from around the world, this volume provides researchers and scholars with a comprehensive understanding of the state of the discipline. Over 25 chapters address a wide variety of subjects, providing readers with a thorough review of the key research themes in the modern family firm, such as corporate social responsibility and bank debt rationing. International examples cover a wide range of economies including China, Europe, and Latin America. The book will appeal to undergraduates, postgraduates and business instructors seeking a definitive view of the issues and solutions that affect and support family business.
Communication Yearbook 34 continues the tradition of publishing state-of-the-discipline literature reviews and essays. Editor Charles T. Salmon presents a volume that is highly international and interdisciplinary in scope, with authors and chapters representing the broad global interests of the International Communication Association. The volume is organized into three sections, pertaining to interdisciplinary theory, normative ideals and political realities, and communication and societies in transition. Internationally renowned scholars serve as respondents for the three sections. With a blend of chapters emphasizing timely public policy concerns and enduring theoretical questions, this volume will be valuable to scholars throughout the discipline of communication studies.
The SAGE Handbook of Family Business captures the conceptual map and state-of-the-art thinking on family business - an area experiencing rapid global growth in research and education since the last three decades. Edited by the leading figures in family business studies, with contributions and editorial board support from the most prominent scholars in the field, this Handbook reflects on the development and current status of family enterprise research in terms of applied theories, methods, topics investigated, and perspectives on the field′s future. The SAGE Handbook of Family Business is divided into following six sections, allowing for ease of navigation while gaining a multi-dimensional perspective and understanding of the field. Part I: Theoretical perspectives in family business studies Part II: Major issues in family business studies Part III: Entrepreneurial and managerial aspects in family business studies Part IV: Behavioral and organizational aspects in family business studies Part V: Methods in use in family business studies Part VI: The future of the field of family business studies By including critical reflections and presenting possible alternative perspectives and theories, this Handbook contributes to the framing of future research on family enterprises around the world. It is an invaluable resource for current and future scholars interested in understanding the unique dynamics of family enterprises under the rubric of entrepreneurship, strategic management, organization theory, accounting, marketing or other related areas.
ÔThis book provides a thorough review and compendium of important family business research. It should be in the personal library of every family business scholar and graduate student involved in this vital field of study.Õ Ð Michael A. Hitt, Texas A&M University, US ÔA systematic review of the field and an incredibly useful reference book for anyone involved in studying or teaching family business.Õ Ð Sara Carter OBE FRSE, Strathclyde Business School, UK ÔThis book offers a succinct but thorough overview of how our understanding of significant issues in family business has evolved through rigorous research. This annotated bibliography of the 215 top-cited family business studies provides the empirical evidence and the basis for insightful comments from the authors on topics which will benefit from further scholarly debate and research. The authors are to be congratulated for making accessible those research contributions which have the potential to make a meaningful difference to the practice of family business.Õ Ð Jill Thomas, The University of Adelaide Business School, Australia ÔI highly recommend the annoted bibliography by De Massis, Sharma, Chua, and Chrisman to experienced scholars as well as to incoming researchers. The authors selected carefully (and in a transparent manner) relevant papers and summarized them in a way that provides a helpful basis for future research. Well done!Õ Ð Sabine B. Rau, WHUÐOtto Beisheim School of Management, Germany ÔA welcome addition to the field of family business studies! Offers an update and thorough compendium of relevant research conducted within the last 15 years. A most useful reference for doctoral students, established scholars and thoughtful practitioners. Importantly, the first three chapters offer critical commentary and synthesis that go well beyond what one typically finds in an annotated bibliography. Overall, this book offers a solid foundation for moving the study of family business forward.Õ Ð Lloyd Steier, University of Alberta, Canada ÔIf I had been asked to suggest the currently most-needed editorial endeavor for advancing family business studies, I would have answered with no hesitation: an up-to-date annotated bibliography. The fieldÕs growth over the past 15 years has been so intense, that even experts who devote most of their research efforts to family business Ð not to mention younger scholars approaching the field Ð will significantly benefit from De Massis, Sharma, Chua, and ChrismanÕs indispensable work.Õ Ð Carlo Salvato, Bocconi University, Italy and Associate Editor, Family Business Review This book catalogues the 215 most-cited empirical, theoretical, and practical articles on family business published in 33 journals since 1996. Researchers, students, and practicing managers will find it indispensable as a quick reference and guide to what we have learned about family firms. Annotations for the articles consist of: summary of key findings, research questions, contributions, and research implications. They also include a detailed description of the methodologies, empirical data, definitions, and conceptual models used. In addition, the book features chapters that review the literature, discuss how family businesses have been defined, present recent trends in family business empirical research, and provide an agenda for future research. Scholars, researchers and PhD students in the fields of family business, entrepreneurship, organization theory, management, economics, finance, anthropology, sociology and business history will find this compendium insightful. The topics covered in the book will also prove to be essential to practitioners Ð both advisors and operators of family enterprises Ð as it will provide evidence-based knowledge on the issues and dilemmas faced by them in everyday life.
