Resilience Under Sanctions: A Comparison of Strategic Responses of Family and Non-family Firms in Russia

Abstract

The 2022 sanctions against Russia created a profound exogenous shock, putting the resilience of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to the test. While SME resilience is widely studied, the specific strategic responses of family firms remain unclear. Using a multiple-case-study design, we explore how family and non-family firms in Russia develop resilience under severe sanctions. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with CEOs, triangulated with archival data, we uncover a critical divergence in the strategic pathways of family and non-family SMEs, driven by the type of CEO commitment. Specifically, affective commitment in family firms fosters a resilient rebound through ‘wait-and-see’ tactics and revived supplier relationships. In contrast, calculative commitment in non-family firms leads to a fragile decline characterized by ‘immediate response’ and revived employee relationships. This study contributes to strategic leadership and organizational adaptation literatures by conceptualizing CEO commitment as a micro-foundational mechanism that explains divergent resilience outcomes in family and non-family firms facing institutional crises.