Abstract
Literature concerning intra-family succession versus non-family succession is still limited. As a result, we know relatively little about the impact of an internal succession on keeping strategically relevant knowledge inside the business. Consequently, this chapter’s primary research interest is the interplay between market context and strategically relevant knowledge resources in long-lived family firms. Based on the market-based view and resource theory, we suggest that in some market environments, family-business-specific experiential knowledge forms a basis for competitive advantage and that such knowledge can be transferred to internal successors easier than to external successors. Several propositions are developed and discussed in relation to six case studies of long-lived family businesses from different market contexts. As a result, we put forward four revised propositions for future research to investigate.
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Notes
- 1.
Internal sources for the case analyses have been the company homepages, firm brochures and chronicles where available as well as one to two interviews per case. Quotation marks in the text highlight when we directly quote from these sources. The external resources we refer to are shown as references in the text.
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Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Tomasz Olejniczak from Kozminski University for his helpful comments and the interview partners for their willingness to share information and knowledge about their businesses with us. Finally, we thank Christin Lemcke for assisting us regarding the data collection in the investigated industries.
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Appendices
Appendix 1
NVivo Matrix Coding
Industry characteristics | Supplier | Buyer/customer | Entry barriers | Substitutes | Rivalry/competition | Market task | Complexity | Variability | Frequency | Similarity | Specificity | Family value | Competences | Employees | Succession | Other networks | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Alpha industry | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Alpha transcript | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | |
Beta industry | 3 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Beta transcript | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | |
Gamma industry | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Gamma transcript | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 1 | |
Delta industry | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Delta transcript | 2 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | |
Epsilon industry | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Epsilon transcript | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 1 | |
Zeta industry | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Zeta transcript | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
Sum | 22 | 13 | 25 | 9 | 5 | 36 | 17 | 9 | 16 | 11 | 9 | 10 | 23 | 20 | 4 | 17 | 9 |
Appendix 2
Importance of Industry-Related Knowledge and Skills
Rated on a scale from 1 (not important) to 5 (very important). Family-business-specific knowledge types: I = idiosyncratic, S = subject-related, N = network-related, O = other knowledge.
Know. types | Alpha Brewery | Beta Winery | Gamma Bakery | Delta Metalworking | Epsilon Timber working | Zeta Distillery | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
(a) Relationship with customers: | |||||||
Knowledge of customer needs | I | 5 | 4–5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
Formal relationships | O | 5 | 2–3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
Informal relationships | N | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
(b) Relationships with suppliers: | |||||||
Knowledge of supplier needs | I | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 5 |
Formal relationships | O | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
Informal relationships | N | 3 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
Regional integration | I | 5 | 4–5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
(c) Relationships with employees: | |||||||
Knowledge of employee needs | I | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 |
Formal relationships | O | 4 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
Informal relationships | N | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
(d) Relationships with competitors: | |||||||
Knowledge about regional competition | I | 5 | 4 | 5 | n.a. | 5 | 5 |
Linking to networks | N | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 4 |
Other activities/networks | – | 4 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
(e) Understanding of relationships between abovementioned stakeholder groups | – | 4 | 3–4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 |
(f) General corporate understanding: | |||||||
Relationships within the company | N | 5 | 4–5 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 4 |
Business philosophy | I | 5 | 4–5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
Commitment to corporate values | I | 5 | 4–5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
Knowledge of the produce range/services | S | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 |
(g) Management skills: | |||||||
Above-average performance in terms of the management task | O | 5 | 4–5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
Experience in the company before handing over | I | 3 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 5 |
Understanding of undocumented processes in the company | I | 3 | 4–5 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Experience in business in the form of documented knowledge | S | 3 | 2–3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Experience in business of the same industry | S | 5 | 4–5 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 3 |
Experience abroad | O | 3 | 4–5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
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Boyd, B., Royer, S., Goto, T. (2019). Competitive Advantage in Long-Lived Family Firms: Implications of Market Characteristics and Strategically Relevant Knowledge. In: Memili, E., Dibrell, C. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Heterogeneity among Family Firms. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77676-7_35
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