Abstract
This book of eclectic edited chapters is one of those rare academic books that educates, inspires and captivates one in equal measures. I read it with genuine pleasure in the spirit of curiosity, and am sure other likeminded scholars will do so too. It also does what it says in that it sets out to better understand family business via undiscovered approaches, unique perspectives and neglected topics. In the process, it sets up a much-needed scholarly dialogue between family business and entrepreneurship scholars. It is not a book for purists of either discipline, but is a must-read for scholars and family business practitioners with an open and curious mind. It captivated me because the authors collectively dare to mention the word ‘entrepreneur’ in a family business context without the usual fear of censure, and metaphorically push the boat out. There is none of the usual boundary-protecting tactics whereby loose ends are tidied away and the family business is eulogized. Indeed, it is precisely this curiosity-driven approach which makes the book so interesting and enjoyable. It brings the anecdotal very much into play. The usual treatment of looking at the characteristics of family business gives way to looking at the characters in family business and the alternative plots, narratives and characterizations that challenge mainstream family business ideas.
In Chapter 1, ‘Where Have We Been and Where We Should Be Going in Family Business Research’, Carsrud and Brännback set the scene by acknowledging the messiness of family business research and articulate the aims of the book as being to stimulate research into neglected areas of family business research, and to move beyond systems theory and the obsession with succession. Chapter 2, ‘Family Business: A Global Perspective from the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics and the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor’, by Matthews, Hechavarria and Schenkel continues this theme of conceptual and theoretical messiness. Indeed, they discuss important and neglected perspectives such as family life, family tradition, parental background and familial role models. In Chapter 3, ‘Intentions in the Family Business: The Role of Family Norms’, Brännback and Carsrud discuss various characters such as the ‘favourite child’ and the issue of parental blindness to the ‘dutiful daughter’, and in the case study even dare to discuss normally taboo storylines, including familial deviances such as alcoholism. The emphasis is on discussing new characters. Kjellander, Nordqvist and Welter in Chapter 4, entitled ‘Identity Dynamics in the Family Business Context: A Novel(’s) Perspective’, examine family business relationships and the narrative construction of identity through the medium of a celebrated novel, Chefen Fru Ingeborg (The Boss, Mrs Ingeborg) by Hjalmar Bergman. Kjellendar et al. use the plot of the novel to interrogate and challenge various assumptions about the plots and storylines associated with family business. In particular they introduce the stereotypes of the ‘good son’ and the ‘dutiful matriarch’. However, in reading of the climax of the novel, I was incensed when I read that the heroine, Ingeborg, commits suicide. That spoke volumes for the near-universal social construction of the entrepreneur as a flawed hero. An exploration of fiction has much to offer entrepreneurship and family business scholars.
In Chapter 5, ‘Love, Hate and Desire: The Role of Emotional Messiness in the Business Family’, Brundin and Sharma examine the family business as ‘an emotional arena’. They discuss the neglected concepts of socio-emotional wealth, emotional messiness and emotional deviance. The theme of messiness is continued in Chapter 6, ‘What’s Love Got to Do With It? Marriage and Divorce in Family Business’, where Cole and Johnson introduce the neglected concept of the ‘Love Map’ as they explore the neglected boundaries between love and work and marriage and divorce. In Chapter 7, ‘The Bad Seed’s Poisonous Harvest: How Offspring Sow and Reap Deviant and Dysfunctional Behavior in the Family Business’, Eddleston and Kidwell continue the theme of divorce from the previous chapter, discussing the concept of family business deviance and the tensions between the ‘familial patriarch’ and the ‘unfavoured children’ whom they dub ‘bad seeds’. It is a riveting discussion. The obsession with behaviour continues in Chapter 8, ‘Double Roles, Double Binds? Double Bind Theory and Family Business Research’, in which Litz articulates the dualistic message sent out by family business owners to their children, and discusses the paradox of conformity versus non-conformity. On the one hand, entrepreneurial ideology encourages children to make their own way in the world, while on the other, family business ideology in many instances encourages subservience and obedience.
In Chapter 9, ‘Power and Learning in the Dynamics of Family Business Development’, Harrison and Leitch discuss the concept of the family business as a learning organisation, and the influence of the forces of familial domination and discipline on the family business. Chapter 10, ‘How to Create Trust in Family Firms and Rebuild It When It’s Lost: Implications for Practice and Research’, sees Dyer continuing the discussion of divorce and other messy issues in relation to the rubric of trust. In Chapter 11, ‘Entrepreneurial Leadership and the Family Business’, Renko, El Tarabishy and Carsrud explore the neglected topic of entrepreneurial leadership in small and family businesses, arguing convincingly that although normally leadership is examined through the lens of strategy, examining it under the rubric of business (particularly family business) adds another neglected dimension to theory building. The major theme of the chapter is of setting an example and inspiring family members to follow.
One of the disappointing aspects of the book is the lack of signposting and clearly defined sections between undiscovered approaches, unique perspectives and neglected topics. One is left to figure it out on one’s own. However, from Chapter 12 onwards there is a concentration on the structural instead of the behavioral. This is evident in Chapter 12, ‘Do Family Councils Really Work? The Need for Empirical Study’, where Bianchi and Alderson set out an alternative perspective on the ‘family council’ as a mediating mechanism between the ‘sons of bosses’ and the ‘patriarch’. The approach that they adopt is an anecdotal one, which they justify by arguing that the majority of the family business literature is based on anecdotes anyway. In Chapter 13, ‘Transferring Strategy Research to the Family Firm Context: A Fit Perspective on Performance in Family Firms’, Lindlow addresses the neglected topic of strategy in relation to family businesses and makes a splendid attempt at synthesising the literature. This is particularly useful for anyone attempting to teach small business strategy to students. Similarly, in Chapter 14, ‘Follow the Capital: Benefits of Tracking Family Capital across Family and Business Systems’, Danes and Brewton introduce a novel approach of considering the concept of ‘family business social capital’. In Chapter 15, ‘Understanding Hybrid Identity Organizations: The Case of Publicly Listed Family Businesses’ Boers and Nordqvist discuss the concept of the ‘hybrid family business’ and illustrate it with various models which demonstrate that family businesses do not have to fit the traditional mould. In Chapter 16, ‘New Theoretical Perspectives on Family Business Entrepreneurial Behavior’, Barett and Moores continue the theme by concentrating on behavioural rather than structural elements. Finally, in Chapter 17, ‘Sustaining Family Wealth: The Impact of the Family Office on the Family Enterprise’, Rosplock and Welsh discuss the under-researched concept of the ‘family office’ and illustrate this with case studies and family tree diagrams. Family offices add an entrepreneurial element to the literature.
The book structure mirrors the theme of messiness because it simply ends without an attempt to synthesise or explain its contribution. Readers may find the chapter structures somewhat distracting, in that because they are set up to generate new themes for future research, they often fail to articulate the essence and importance of their message. However, I am sure that the book will achieve its aims of stimulating research into neglected areas of family business research and of moving beyond systems theory and the obsession with succession, and will be seen as a seminal collection in time. We need more books such as this one, that seek to collapse artificially created disciplinary boundaries and raise new structures.