ACE research vignette 022 : family business succession : when death takes a hand

This series of research vignettes is aimed at sharing current and interesting research findings from our team of international Entrepreneurship researchers. In this vignette, Dr. Mervyn Morris considers the impact on family business operations due to the sudden and unexpected death of a key family member.

In for the long haul : family business succession at HaulageCo

This is a case about family business succession. Because many successions fail, the 'problem of succession' is a key issue in the family business field (see Aronoff 1998; Bird eta/. 2002; Dyer & Sanchez 1998; Sharma 2004; Zalu·a & Sharma 2004). Indeed, from the non-family business literature, we know one third of relay successions - like this case where there is an identified successor - will fail, with the prospective CEO leaving before succeeding the incumbent CEO (Cmmella & Shen 2001). Research on next generation family business members is limited. Successor ath·ibutes (Chrisman, Chua & Sharma 1998; Sharma & Rao 2000), as well as various characteristics such as socialisation (Garcia-Aivmez, L6pez-Sintas & Gonzalvo 2002) a11d gender (Haberman & Danes 2007; Vera & Dean 2005) have all been considered to play a role. So too have successor intentions (Stavrou & Swiercz 1998), motivation (Le Breton-Miller, Miller & Steier 2004), commitment (Sharma & Irving 2005) and transformation from follower to leadership (Cater & Justis 2009). In this case, by outlining the socialisation of the successors, explanations of their motivations for joining a11d their current employment we can begin to see some of the underlying mechanisms at work motivating the next generation to join and stay in the family business.

C-direct: a family business

A business is a multifaceted organism; made up of mutually dependent employees whose connection to each other is largely dependant on their role within the entity. Being in a family is a very similar experience. So when family and business interact, managing both can be a challenge. This case study focuses on issues that contribute to a successful family business infrastructure, and the issues and trends that they identify as significant - for example, the importance of a succession plan within the family business environment.

Generational and cultural indicators of technology and innovation in family business

The internet revolution has affected everybody in some way. Technologies used in business range from telephones to industry-specific machinery. Mostly though, business technology has come to mean the internet. In literature concerning innovation and the adoption of technology in business, research invariably centres on small to medium businesses (SI'v1Es), as these can be defined reasonably easily. Statistics on family businesses are limited, however, because family businesses are so difficult to categorize and define.

The Australian Family Business Survey of 1993 (Institute of Chartered Accountants) determined that family business is the largest form of business ownership in Australia and represents 83% of all business enterprises, although Basu (2004) believes that over two thirds of all world-wide businesses are owned or managed by families and around half of all businesses in Australia are family businesses. The Australian Institute of Management (AIM) (2004) states that the wealth of family and private businesses is estimated at $3.6 trillion and that family firms generate 50 per cent of Australia's employment growth, account for 40 per cent of Australia's private sector output, and are a seed bed for innovation and the information of large companies.

The difficulty in defining a family business is heightened because family businesses can take many forms ranging from sole traders to private companies to public companies. Hence, when talking about family business, you could be referring to the sole trader dealing with organic produce to an IT organisation employing hundreds of staff. Basu (2004) thinks that while ordinarily, in non-family businesses, the business and family domains remain separate, the key distinctive characteristic of family businesses is that family members work together for economic purposes. In other words, the family is not merely a social unit but also an economic unit. Craig and Lindsay (2002) believe that family involvement in the business is what makes the family business different... researchers, however, cannot seem to agree as to what constitutes 'family involvement' in a business so that it can be defined as a family business and that family business is ... a business that is governed and/or managed with the intention to shape and pursue the vision of the business held by a dominant coalition that is controlled by members of the same family or a small number of families in a manner that is potentially sustainable across generations of the family or families.

Families divided : culture and control in small family business

In this article, we explore the dynamics of control, compliance and resistance using two case studies where ‘family’ has symbolic, material and ideological significance. While the ‘family’ metaphor is often invoked to suggest a normative unity and integration in large organizations, we investigate the use of shared understandings of divisions (Parker 1995) and difference, as well as unity and similarity, in constituting organizational culture in two small family-owned firms. Diverging from mainstream family business research, we adopt a critical and interpretative approach that incorporates employee perspectives and explores how forms of control and resistance need to be understood in relation to their local contexts. We also argue that organization studies could benefit from revisiting progressive assumptions that equate developments in forms of organization with forms of organizational control.

Managing the family business

Managing the family business is a timely and thought provoking book that should encourage greater debate about where family businesses are going and what issues are paramount. The editors have made a consious attempt to invite and encourage academic and industry practitioners to contribute chapters.

The influence of cultural attributes on intergenerational succession in the Chinese-Australian family business

Research on succession in family business has been traditionally concentrated on planning and strategies in terms of management, ownership and governance. There is an increasing concern on the family influence on the process of succession. This paper discusses the role that the family culture plays in sustaining a family's commitment to its business. In particular, the family business is a prominent form of organisation among the ethnic Chinese expatriate business families. Since the I 980s, under the business migration programme, the increase of Chinese migrants has contributed significantly to the cultural landscape of Australian. This paper chooses Chinese-Australian family businesses to explore their cultural characteristics as a strong family influence on the practices of pas sing on the business to the next generation.

Challenges of inter-generational succession in the Chinese Australian family business

Chinese immigrants have long been a feature of Australia's population mix and play a critical role in the country's economic activities, with particular contribution by Chinese family-owned businesses. Although these family-owned businesses can generate and significantly improve the financial wealth which stems from the family's original fortune, most Chinese family businesses are relatively short-lived, rarely extending beyond one generation. The high mortality rate in family businesses points primarily to the challenges of management succession. There is recognition that inter-generational succession is essential for both the profitability of Chinese family businesses and the welfare of the family as a whole. However, the intentions of inter-generational pursuit of continuity can be subject to the different goals and interests of key participants, as well as the surrounding context in which the business develops. This paper presents issues pertaining to the inter-generational diversity that might challenge the business continuity of Chinese family businesses, through the identification of how individuals perceive, relate to and initiate the succession process.