1,721,131 research outputs found
L' orientamento al mercato come determinante di imprenditorialità: un'indagine fra le piccole e medie imprese
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All in the Family? An Exploratory Study of Family Member Advisors and Firm Performance
No full textThis exploratory study investigates the relationship between family members serving in an advising capacity and family firm performance. Integrating the stewardship and agency perspectives, we predict an inverted U-shaped relationship between the number of family advisors and family firm performance. We argue that the generation in control moderates this relationship such that family member advisors have a positive relationship with performance in first-generation family firms and an inverted U-shaped relationship with performance in later-generation family firms. Our empirical analysis on a sample of 128 Swedish family firms confirms our hypotheses. In the concluding section, we discuss results, contributions and future research directions
Market orientation as determinant of entrepreneurship: an empirical investigation on SMEs
No full textEntrepreneurial Orientation (EO) and Market Orientation (MO) are considered
key factors in ensuring firm longevity in the new competitive landscape. Despite extensive
research during the past decade, most of the studies use samples that exclude small and
medium enterprises (SMEs), which represent the majority of economic activity worldwide.
Some studies do investigate this relationship in small companies but place little importance
on the subtle differences between SMEs and large companies when measuring MO. This
study empirically investigates the relationship between MO and EO on a sample of 2500
Swedish SMEs.Anewmeasure ofMOthat takes into consideration SMEs specific conditions
has been developed and used. Findings suggest that MO is the main determinant of EO in
SME
Family CEO and board service: turning the tide for export scope in family SMEs
No full textAdopting the socioemotional wealth perspective, we argue that the presence of a family CEO in family SMEs negatively affects export scope, but that such negative effect is mitigated by board service. We develop and test a model that considers the synergistic combination of family management and another important aspect of family governance in the context of family firm internationalization: the service behavior of the board of directors. The empirical evidence from a sample of 248 Belgian family SMEs shows that governance is crucial to overcoming the problems of family management: family CEOs may negatively influence export scope, but board service is able to turn the tide so that the family CEO effect becomes positive. With such novel findings, we contribute to international business and family business studies
Research on Small Firm Growth: A Review
No full textStudies of small firm growth are no longer short in supply. On the contrary, as demonstrated by recent reviews, dozens and dozens of empirical research studies on this topic can be compiled. This does not necessarily mean that we know everything we want to know about small firm growth. In fact, all of the authors of recent review articles complain that a coherent picture is not easy to distil from the material. This is likely due to differences in theoretical and epistemological perspectives and interpretations; operationalizations; empirical contexts; modelling and analysis approaches, as well as the inherent complexity of the phenomenon itself. Thus, not only a superficial but also a rather deep reading of the extant literature easily leaves the reader confused and wondering. \ud
Admitting that, we will focus in this paper on the fact that significant progress has been made and that we do actually know quite a bit now about the phenomenon of small firm growth; its antecedents and effects, and how it can or should be studied. It is not possible within the confines of a conference paper—and possibly outside the capacity of these authors—to give a complete account of that knowledge. What we will attempt is a summary of points of convergence within some key themes. We first discuss the nature of the phenomenon of small firm growth and its relation to entrepreneurship. Here we discuss the fact that the concept ‘growth’ is used both for ‘change in amount’ and for the process that leads to that change. We also note that part of the reason for lack of coherence in previous research is the heterogeneous nature of growth; firms can expand along different dimensions and show many different growth patterns over time. As regards the relationship between growth and entrepreneurship we conclude that at least early growth of new ventures is part of the entrepreneurship phenomenon.\ud
We then move on to how growth can best be assessed. This involves decisions about number of time periods; choice of specific indicator(s) and growth formulae, and the like. We conclude that ideally, growth should be assessed as size changes over multiple periods, preferably in a concurrent, longitudinal design. While sales growth is the most generally applicable measure, theoretical and industry-specific concerns should also influence the choice of indicator(s). \ud
A major section is devoted to the long list of internal and external factors that have been hypothesized and shown to influence firm growth. It is probably the case that every theoretically reasonable suggestion for a growth determinant has been shown to have the predicted impact in some context. We argue that the problem is to develop better knowledge about the relative and combined effects of the many predictors under different circumstances. One way to deal with this problem is to increase the level of abstraction and regard the many particularities as aspects of more over-riding factors, some of which influence growth directly while others only have an indirect impact. Another is to give up ambitions of approaching full explanation but instead enhance our understanding of the interplay among a smaller set of specific factors. A third is to limit the study to a more homogenous empirical context and generalize only to that context until replications have shown broader generalization is warranted.\ud
We then turn to how small firms grow, if at all. This concerns issues of organic vs. acquisition-based growth; internationalisation; integration; diversification, etc. One striking result here is the very marked difference between young and small vs. large and mature growing firms in that the former mainly grow organically while the latter achieve the bulk of their growth through acquisitions. This has some overlap with the next topic, which is ‘growth stages and transitions’, but as the latter is a relatively separate stream in the literature we keep it as such. We note that the critique of this literature seems to have led not to better research but to no research at all in this stream more recently. This is unfortunate because it represents the type of knowledge small firm managers typically need and demand. \ud
Before concluding, we also treat the relationship between growth and profitability. Surprisingly few studies have investigated this crucial relationship. Recent findings indicate that firms that grow successfully do so by first securing profitability, and then go for growth. This is strong reason to caution against a universal and uncritical growth ideology. As it appears, firms that grow at low profitability often end up in the undesirable state of low growth and low profits instead. This also puts small-firm managers’ widespread reluctance to pursue growth in a different light. Finally, we conclude the paper with a summary of what our review implies for the design of further studies on small firm growth
Preserving socioemotional wealth in family firms: asset or liability? The moderating role of business context.
No full textWe ask whether choices aimed at preserving socioemotional wealth (SEW) represent an asset or a liability in family-controlled firms. Specifically, we consider one major SEW-preserving mechanism—having as chief executive officer (CEO) a member of the controlling family—and hypothesize that this choice is (1) an asset in business contexts, such as industrial districts, in which tacit rules and social norms are relatively more important, but (2) a potential liability in contexts like stock exchange markets, where formal regulations and transparency principles take center stage. The results from our empirical analysis confirm these hypotheses
Small firm growth
No full textWe review and discuss the literature on small firm growth with an intention to provide a useful vantage point for new research studies regarding this important phenomenon. We first discuss conceptual and methodological issues that represent critical choices for those who research growth and which make it challenging to compare results from previous studies. The substantial review of past research is organized into four sections representing two smaller and two larger literatures. The first of the latter focuses on internal and external drivers of small firm growth. Here we find that much has been learnt and that many valuable generalizations can be made. However, we also conclude that more research of the same kind is unlikely to yield much. While interactive and non-linear effects may be worth pursuing it is unlikely that any new and important growth drivers or strong, linear main effects would be found. The second large literature deals with organizational life-cycles or stages of development. While deservedly criticized for unwarranted determinism and weak empirics this type of approach addresses problems of high practical and also theoretical relevance, and should not be shunned by researchers. We argue that with a change in the fundamental assumptions and improved empirical design, research on the organizational and managerial consequences of growth is an important line of inquiry. With this, we overlap with one of the smaller literatures, namely studies focusing on the effects of growth. We argue that studies too often assume that growth equals success. We advocate instead the use of growth as an intermediary variable that influences more fundamental goals in ways that should be carefully examined rather than assumed. The second small literature distinguishes between different modes or forms of growth, including, e.g., organic vs. acquisition-based growth, and international expansion. We note that modes of growth is an important topic that has been under studied in the growth literature, whereas in other branches of research aspects of it may have been studied intensely, but not primarily from a growth perspective. In the final section we elaborate on ways forward for research on small firm growth. We point at rich opportunities for researchers who look beyond drivers of growth, where growth is viewed as a homogenous phenomenon assumed to unambiguously reflect success, and instead focus on growth as a process and a multi-dimensional phenomenon, as well as on how growth relates to more fundamental outcomes
Entrepreneurial growth : the role of international knowledge acquisition as moderated by firm age
No full textIn line with repeated recent calls for research on specific forms of growth rather than on an undifferentiated notion of “total growth,” our study contributes to the understanding of entrepreneurial growth. By this we mean growth through expansion into new geographic markets and/or via the introduction of new products or services. Building on Penrose's theory of the growth of the firm and on the research streams she has in part inspired, we investigate the impact of knowledge acquisition from international markets on entrepreneurial growth both at home and abroad. We further suggest that the effects of international knowledge acquisition on entrepreneurial growth will vary with firm age. Utilizing longitudinal data on 138 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), we find that the acquisition of knowledge from international markets fuels growth through market development, and that this effect is stronger for international expansion than domestic expansion. Our results also show that firm age negatively moderates the relationship between international knowledge acquisition and entrepreneurial growth via the introduction of new products or services. Specifically, international knowledge acquisition has a positive effect on growth via new products/services development in young firms, but a negative effect in mature firms. We assume this reflects changes over time in how international knowledge is managed
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