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"Many of the challenges faced by family-owned businesses develop after the firm has reached a stage of maturity, when the first generation is faced with issues concerning the role of their children in the business and the long-term future of the enterprise. This collection of case studies from around the world demonstrates how governance of both the business and the family (or lack thereof) impacts succession of leadership in the firm and the inheritance of ownership and wealth. It is the role of governance and how it impacts both family and firm that link these family business cases together with succession and inheritance. These topics have been clustered together because the social systems of the family and the management system of the firm have significant impacts on the success, or failure, of succession plans. All the planning in the world for succession and inheritance will not succeed if the firm does not have a well established and functional governance system. Likewise, if the family does not understand its role in the governance of the firm and the mechanisms for making sound decisions, succession choices may not be accepted by family members. Most family firms fail because of succession issues, not economic ones. This volume features nine in-depth cases of family-owned business from a variety of industries to illuminate the dynamics of governance, succession, and inheritance. Each case illustrates the complexity of issues and, through interactive exercises and questions, offers readers approaches to solutions, which may include less-than-optimal compromises or even selling the business as the only viable option. The examples and insights will prove valuable for students and members of entrepreneurial and family-owned firms, as well as consultants, investors, and other professional advisers."--Publisher's website

"Family-owned and managed firms are often beset by a variety of crises that can impact the firm's very survival. These may include changes in technology, deaths of critical family members, competition within an industrial sector, shifts in market dynamics and product mixes, economic turmoil, political upheaval and revolution, firm growth, succession, and selecting new firm leadership. Such crises may be internal to the firm or a function of the external environment, and several may occur simultaneously; all of them contribute to a context of uncertainty, risk, and change, presenting particular challenges that are unique to family-owned businesses. This volume presents eight in-depth case studies of family-owned firms that represent a variety of industries and situations. Each case explores the dynamics of managing in chaotic environments and how family leadership responded to crises. Lessons learned from these experiences will help readers understand how to solve problems under conditions of uncertainty and how to avoid failure, when the survival of the firm is at stake. Featuring questions and learning notes designed to engage the reader directly, this volume will be a valuable resources for students and members of entrepreneurial and family-owned firms, as well as consultants, investors, and other professional advisors."--Publisher's website

Businesses owned and operated by families constitute the vast majority of firms around the world. These firms are found in all industrial segments, from retail and service establishments to heavy manufacturers. Their sizes and revenues range from the smallest venture of a husband and wife roadside food stall in rural India to the largest multinational, highly diversified corporations in the United States and Europe. Many challenges, such as competition, regulation, environmental concerns, access to capital, and macroeconomic factors confront family and nonfamily firms alike. In addition, family and closely-held firms grapple with such issues of succession, continuity, conflict resolution, identity and organizational roles, estate and financial planning that are idiosyncratic to them; when psychological, social, and emotional factors are in play, constantly changing familial relationships influence the strategic and financial choices they make. Yet, there has been comparatively little theoretical or empirical research undertaken on family firms, relative to entrepreneurship and strategic management. This book addresses gaps in the literature by presenting a holistic, multi-disciplinary approach to the study and practice of family business that draws from such fields as psychology, anthropology, sociology, strategy, family therapy, family studies, wealth management, and international business. An international array of experts addresses both macro issues (including the role of family businesses in new business creation and economic development, influences of culture on family business, public policies that can encourage or threaten family business) and firm management (strategic and financial decision making, governance, entering and exiting). Featuring case studies from firms in a variety of industries, Understanding Family Businesses not only offers provocative new insights on family business dynamics, but outlines an agenda for future research.

This is the third in a series of casebooks on issues faced by families owning and managing a business. This volume focuses on the management of growth, decline, and transition in such firms. These cases are clustered together because family firms grow, decline, and grow again, often transforming themselves several times in the course of their existence, as they face succession issues, financial constraints, and changes in market demand. Managing change also has significant impact on the firm-owning families and their individual members, especially when making decisions under conditions of uncertainty. The eight cases presented in this volume, as those in the previous two casebooks, were developed as a response to the lack of a diversity and selection of cases on family business. The cases emerged by engaging students to help develop them as a part of the curriculum for teaching family business to both graduate and undergraduate business school students in the United States, Canada, Australia, and Finland. However, their utility goes beyond the classroom and should be informative to consultants to family firms and family business owners and members as well.

Social ventures are organized as nonprofit, for-profit or hybrid organizations whose primary purpose is to address unmet social needs and create social value. Partnerships are one of the key strategies employed by social ventures to gain resources. This study focuses on evaluating the role of partnerships on nascent social ventures participating in business plan competitions. The results suggest that partnerships are more important for nonprofit and hybrid social ventures than for for-profit social ventures. Findings also suggest that partnerships are more essential for social ventures operating in developing regions such as Africa, Asia and Latin America where institutional constraints are greater than in the United States or Canada. This study provides some empirical insight into how partnerships impact nascent social ventures operating with distinct legal structures and in different locations of operation.

This thought provoking book builds on existing research traditions that make small business, entrepreneurship and family business a resource rich arena for study. It steps back to ask fundamental questions that every researcher should consider prior to engaging in data collection. It focuses on topics that have traditionally frustrated researchers including experimental methods in small business research, scale development, control variables and language issues in cross cultural research. The distinguished authors also address subjects such as theory development and testing in entrepreneurship, as well as determining if progress in research has been made and how that can be measured. Critically, many of the chapters highlight ways in which research can be both practical yet theoretically important. Bringing together quantitative and qualitative techniques and taking an investigative approach almost totally ignored in entrepreneurship research, this unique volume will be of special interest to anyone studying small and family businesses or entrepreneurship and business

This paper describes the development and growth of a virtual, internationally based, high technology business incubator in Australia, Chile, Finland and the United States. The UCLA Venture Development Program (UCLA-VDP) is a global educational program and "knowledge network" of strategic partners. The UCLA-VDP serves as the technology business incubator at UCLA and operates internationally through its Global Access Program (GAP) utilizing its strategic partnerships with business and technology groups abroad. The objective of the Program is to create new businesses and wealth out of the technological research conducted at UCLA, other universities, and laboratories world-wide using the entrepreneurial talents and networks of the Anderson School at UCLA.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to revisit the conceptualization and measurement of entrepreneurial intentions. Significant studies anchored in the Theory of Planned Behavior use causal statistical approaches to entrepreneurial intentions. This methodological approach, leads to the conclusion that there is a single pathway for all groups of people to achieve business start-up. Even though theory suggests approaches by women entrepreneurs to start a business may be influenced by different factors from those influencing men, results are inconclusive in these analyses. The authors argue that methodological preferences for linear, causal analytical approaches limit the understanding of gender similarities and differences in the business start-up process. The authors propose that when considering diverse samples, it is unreasonable to assume there is only a single pathway leading to business start-up.Design/methodology/approachBuilding on fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) and data set of 2,038 respondents, the authors investigate factors predicting the intentions to start a business and evaluate the alternative conjunctive paths that emerge.FindingsThe fsQCA results shows that the relationship among conditions leading to entrepreneurial intentions is complex and is best represented as multiple and conjectural causation configurations. In other words, there are multiple significant pathways (refers to equifinality) that predict intentions to start a business start-up, and there are significant differences by gender.Originality/valueThis study is one of the first to examine the roll of gender as a sperate condition in the analysis. This paper offers implications for theory and future research and highlights the complexity of this domain.