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Abstract

The qualitative research reported here is part of an ongoing, value-adding relationship between family-owned businesses and two universities: the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University and the Family Business Program at the University of St. Thomas. The family business programs at both universities have gone beyond the family business forum model so prevalent today and engaged with participating family firms in facilitating actions that represent meaningful changes for the family business. This article documents some of the changes and value derived by the participating firms. It also proposes the notion that the family business field can learn from action research processes. Because action research can keep both practitioners and researchers in contact with the fundamental problems faced by family-controlled corporations, it can help create knowledge that is immensely practical and fundamental.

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Changing the Family Business through Action Research

Abstract

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