Our research helps family firms of all sizes tackle the challenge of technological disruption in order to succeed in fast-changing competitive environments. Combining qualitative and quantitative methods, we study how family firms balance financial and non-financial goals in strategy making, how they reconcile history and traditions with the increasing need for innovation and change, how they finance the rapid scaling of their business, and how they build and sustain competitive advantage over time and across generations.
Strategy, financing, innovation and growth in family firms
About the project
Principal Investigator: Josip Kotlar
Researcher team: Vittorio Chiesa, Massimo G. Colombo, Federico Frattini, Giancarlo Giudici, Cristina Rossi Lamastra
Duration: 2018-ongoing
KEY RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Our research helps family firms of all sizes tackle the challenge of technological disruption in order to succeed in fast-changing competitive environments. Combining qualitative and quantitative methods, we study how family firms balance financial and non-financial goals in strategy making, how they reconcile history and traditions with the increasing need for innovation and change, how they finance the rapid scaling of their business, and how they build and sustain competitive advantage over time and across generations.
Working on these topics, the research group has developed extensive research experience at the intersection of strategy, finance, innovation, and entrepreneurship, generating valuable insights for both family businesses theory and practice. Research results have been published in top management and entrepreneurship journals including the Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Management Studies, Journal of Business Venturing, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, Family Business Review, and Journal of Family Business Strategy, among others. We won several research awards from international institutions such as the Academy of Management, the International Family Enterprise Research Academy (IFERA), the Family Firm Institute, the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE), and the European Academy of Management (EURAM).
Members of the research group hold leadership roles in international research networks, such as the Research Directorship of the International Family Enterprise Research Academy (IFERA), and Editorial roles in leading journals such as Strategic Management Journal, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Family Business Review, and the Journal of Family Business Strategy.
Our research is informed by ongoing engagement with family business leaders, business service providers and policy makers in order to promote collaborative knowledge creation and boost impact on business and policy making practices.
- How do family firms balance financial and non-financial goals in strategy making? Research investigates the interplay between financial and non-financial goals in family firms, including the definition and measurement of family business values and goals, the design and management of goal formulation and negotiation processes, and the impact of financial and non-financial goals on strategy and performance.
- What factors drive innovation and corporate entrepreneurship in family firms? Research provides evidence on the differences in innovation input, process and output between family and non-family firms, examines the drivers of individual- and firm-level entrepreneurial behaviors in family firms, and the role of distinctive resources and capabilities in enabling/constraining innovation performance in family firms.
- How do family firms finance the scaling of their business? Research investigates the challenges that family firms encounter in financing the rapid scaling of their operations, and the external financing channels that can sustain their international expansion and external growth acquisitions.
- How do family firms achieve and sustain competitive advantage? Research investigates the sources of sustainable competitive advantage in family firms, with particular emphasis on the effects of family firm governance (e.g., the role of family ownership, family leadership and family involvement in the Board of Directors), strategy (e.g., R&D investments, diversification, internationalization) and resources (e.g., family values, kinship networks, community, history and traditions) on performance over time.
OUTPUTS & IMPACTS
- Colombo, M. G., De Massis, A., Piva, E., Rossi‐Lamastra, C., & Wright, M. (2014). Sales and employment changes in entrepreneurial ventures with family ownership: Empirical evidence from high‐tech industries. Journal of Small Business Management, 52(2), 226-245.
- De Massis, A., Frattini, F., Kotlar, J., Messeni-Petruzzelli, A., Wright, M. (2016). Innovation through tradition: Lessons from innovative family businesses and directions for future research. Academy of Management Perspectives, 30(1), 93-116.
- De Massis, A., Kotlar, J., Frattini, F., Chrisman, J.J., Nordqvist, M. (2016). Family governance at work: Organizing for new product development in family SMEs. Family Business Review, 29(2), 189-213.
- Arzubiaga, U., Kotlar, J., De Massis, A., Maseda, A., & Iturralde, T. (2018). Entrepreneurial orientation and innovation in family SMEs: Unveiling the (actual) impact of the Board of Directors. Journal of Business Venturing, 33(4), 455-469.
- Kotlar, J., Signori, A., De Massis, A., Vismara, S. (2018). Financial wealth, socioemotional wealth, and IPO underpricing in family firms: A two-stage gamble model. Academy of Management Journal, 61(3), 1073-1099.
- Kotlar, J., Sieger, P. (2018). Bounded rationality and bounded reliability: A study of non-family managers’ entrepreneurial behavior in family firms. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, in press.
