Strategy, ownership, governance, and socio-psychological perspectives on family businesses from around the world

This prologue to the special issue documents and discusses the current family business research literature on strategy, ownership, governance and the socio-psychological dimension. The articles in this special issue represent theoretical and empirical research using micro and macro databases with various methodologies, including case studies and multivariate analyses. In particular, the ownership and governance literature relative to family businesses is critically reviewed, and traditional perspectives are challenged by leading scholars. Each of five competitive research articles is contextualised relative to the extant literature, and the contributions of each article are duly noted and discussed. Possible future research directions are suggested, 13 research propositions are identified, and future research needs are delineated. Finally, researchers are challenged to (a) question the extant business research in general, (b) broaden their research perspectives to both the family system and the business system, and (c) begin dialogue with scholars in related and relevant disciplines.

► Firms absorb market risk, allocate capital, reduce uncertainty and transaction costs.
► Absorptive capacity manifests uniquely via flexible management, supportive employees.
► Owners’ diversity linked to family system, industry structure, business growth.
► Family ownership in new markets mediates governance mechanisms, firm performance.
► Regret may affect owner-manager decisions within both family and business systems.