We propose a framework describing how family ownership can create or destroy value depending on the goals, resources, and governance of the family firm, which are each influenced by the family owners. Taking a contingency perspective, we suggest that a fit is required for all three elements - family-influenced goals, resources, and governance - for the family firm to flourish over generations. We conclude with a suggested research agenda indicating research opportunities at the nexus of these identified elements. Further we provide some guiding questions for practitioners that might stimulate fruitful discussions among family firm owners and managers about how to realize "fit."
We work to unbundle the relationship between organizational identity and organizational adaptation to discontinuous technologies. While organizational identity has been envisaged as an impediment to the adoption of technological discontinuities by the majority of scholars, other research has recently portrayed organizational identity as a driver for change. We provide an explorative basis to reconcile these contradictions by dissecting elements of organizational identity that exacerbate organizational inertia and constitu-ents of organizational identity that enable organizations to respond earlier and more flexibly to environmental changes. Using field data on the response patterns of German publishing houses to the emergence of digitization and internet-enabled business models, we identify four distinct types of organizational identity, which we metaphorically label as Mercenaries, Knights, Villeins, and Samu-rai. These four identity types vary with regard to two dimensions of identity: focus, which ranges from highly intra- to highly extra domain focused, and locus of legitimacy, which ranges from highly self-related to highly environment-related. Furthermore, we propose that each of the four types of organizational identity entails a characteristic pattern of adaptation that is idiosyncratic regard-ing the response timing, the activeness versus passiveness of the response, and the type of active response strategies. Our re-search adds to the emerging stream of research on cognitive-emotional determinants of organizational adaptation, particularly by providing a framework that explains how variation in the identity of organizations causes variations in those organizations' adoption of technological discontinuities. We also enhance knowledge on family businesses by showing that family influenced b
We work to unbundle the relationship between organizational identity and organizational adaptation to discontinuous technologies. While organizational identity has been envisaged as an impediment to the adoption of technological discontinuities by the majority of scholars, other research has recently portrayed organizational identity as a driver for change. We provide an explorative basis to reconcile these contradictions by dissecting elements of organizational identity that exacerbate organizational inertia and constitu-ents of organizational identity that enable organizations to respond earlier and more flexibly to environmental changes. Using field data on the response patterns of German publishing houses to the emergence of digitization and internet-enabled business models, we identify four distinct types of organizational identity, which we metaphorically label as Mercenaries, Knights, Villeins, and Samu-rai. These four identity types vary with regard to two dimensions of identity: focus, which ranges from highly intra- to highly extra domain focused, and locus of legitimacy, which ranges from highly self-related to highly environment-related. Furthermore, we propose that each of the four types of organizational identity entails a characteristic pattern of adaptation that is idiosyncratic regard-ing the response timing, the activeness versus passiveness of the response, and the type of active response strategies. Our re-search adds to the emerging stream of research on cognitive-emotional determinants of organizational adaptation, particularly by providing a framework that explains how variation in the identity of organizations causes variations in those organizations' adoption of technological discontinuities. We also enhance knowledge on family businesses by showing that family influenced businesses are more likely to develop an intra-domain focus, which ultimately engenders a passive or defensive response behavior.
Organizational identity has been envisaged as a critical precursor of organizational adaptation. However, the various dimensions of identity and their precise influence on organizations' responses to discontinuous technologies remain underexplored. Using rich field data on the responses of 14 German publishing houses to the emergence of digitization, we provide an explorative basis to fill this gap. Our analysis suggests that two dimensions of organizational identity exist, each having different main effects: focus, which ranges from inclusive to exclusive, significantly affects the degree to which companies adopt the new technology or do not; locus of identity, which may be self- or environment-related, is strongly associated with the speed of the response to discontinuous change. We then explore the interactive effects of identity focus and locus on incumbent adaptation. Our inquiry reveals that each of the four focus-locus combinations shows an idiosyncratic pattern of adaptation regarding the response timing, the activeness versus passiveness of the response, and, where applicable, the precise type of active response strategy. Our research adds to the emerging stream of research on cognitive determinants of organizational adaptation and is one of the first empirical studies to explain incumbent response heterogeneity through the lens of organizational identity.
The founder’s values and beliefs are often determinant for family business’ later organizational path and as such affect the organization’s level of innovation. Building on recent research that has identified storytelling as an important means to imprint the founder’s values and beliefs, we apply a multi-case research design to investigate how different foci of those stories affect a family firm’s level of innovation. We suggest that founder-centered stories entail a focus on decisions that match with the founder’s values, hierarchical decision-making, and destructive conflicts, which ultimately lead to low levels of innovation. To the contrary, family-centered stories free family members in their decision-making and entail a collaborative decision-making characterized by low levels of conflicts. As a result, those firms have higher levels of innovation as compared to firms with founder-centered stories. We summarize our findings in a model of path creation in family firms.
