Family firms are commonly assumed to be more long-term oriented than comparable non-family firms. Joern Block analyzes this phenomenon in more detail and investigates whether and under which conditions family firms pursue more long-term oriented strategies than other firms.

Introducing a new concept in family businesses Transgenerational Entrepreneurship addresses how these businesses achieve growth and longevity through entrepreneurial activities. It focuses on the resources, capabilities and mindsets that families develop and draw upon in order to be entrepreneurial across generations, and presents findings from an international research collaboration between family business researchers and practitioners. In addition to a comprehensive conceptual chapter, the editors include a unique set of empirical case-based research papers that investigates transgenerational entrepreneurship in different European contexts. They bring together and integrate frontier research on entrepreneurship and family business, as well as provide a basis for future research. Academics, teachers and students in business and management, entrepreneurship and family business will find this path-breaking book of value, as will libraries, policy makers and consultants.

•The editors should be commended for developing a Map of the Landscape of Family Business Outcomes. It gives future research direction to the discipline considering both short-term profitability and long-term sustainability. It considers conventional c

This book studies the long-term development of the 250 largest family and non-family enterprises in Germany between 1958 and 2018. In particular, the continuities and discontinuities of the companies’ ownership structure, operations and solvency are examined. Historical methods are used to advance the understanding of the attributed long-term orientation of family firms in family business research. The collected data of the 250 largest enterprises of 1958 provide the most comprehensive historical overview of the industrial landscape of this period. The long-term analyses show that more than half of the companies fail and less than a quarter keeps their ownership structure in the observation period of 60 years. In this timeframe, family-owned businesses have relatively stable ownership structures and superior survival rates compared to public companies although the latter experience higher growth rates. A listing of a family firm leads to the discontinuity of the family’s majority ownership in the mid- to long-term. Furthermore, company types like foundation-owned enterprises and foreign subsidiaries show even higher survival rates. The book closes with practical implications based on the identified development patterns of the surviving and failed enterprises.

Fidelity, Hallmark, Michelin, and Wal-Mart are renowned industry powerhouses with long leadership track records. Yet these celebrated companies are united by another factor not generally equated with competitive success: They are all family-controlled businesses. While many view the hallmarks of family businesses—stable strategies, clan cultures, and unencumbered family ownership—as weaknesses, Danny Miller and Isabelle Le Breton-Miller argue that it is these very characteristics that create formidable competitive advantages for many such firms. Managing for the Long Run draws from a worldwide study of enduring, family-run organizations—including Cargill, Timken, L.L. Bean, The New York Times, and IKEA—to reveal their unconventional success strategies and how these strategies can be adopted and applied in any organization. Miller and Le Breton-Miller show how four driving passions of family-run firms—command, continuity, community, and connection—give rise to a set of practices that defy modern management thinking yet ensure a company’s long term competitive advantage. Outlining how these practices can enhance strategic efforts from operations to brand leadership to innovation, this book shows what every company must do to manage for the long run.

The SAGE Handbook of Family Business captures the conceptual map and state-of-the-art thinking on family business - an area experiencing rapid global growth in research and education since the last three decades. Edited by the leading figures in family business studies, with contributions and editorial board support from the most prominent scholars in the field, this Handbook reflects on the development and current status of family enterprise research in terms of applied theories, methods, topics investigated, and perspectives on the field′s future. The SAGE Handbook of Family Business is divided into following six sections, allowing for ease of navigation while gaining a multi-dimensional perspective and understanding of the field. Part I: Theoretical perspectives in family business studies Part II: Major issues in family business studies Part III: Entrepreneurial and managerial aspects in family business studies Part IV: Behavioral and organizational aspects in family business studies Part V: Methods in use in family business studies Part VI: The future of the field of family business studies By including critical reflections and presenting possible alternative perspectives and theories, this Handbook contributes to the framing of future research on family enterprises around the world. It is an invaluable resource for current and future scholars interested in understanding the unique dynamics of family enterprises under the rubric of entrepreneurship, strategic management, organization theory, accounting, marketing or other related areas.