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Understanding Family Businesses pp 169–184Cite as

Entrepreneurial Leadership and the Family Business

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Part of the book series: International Studies in Entrepreneurship ((ISEN,volume 15))

Abstract

This chapter focuses on a key interpersonal and organizational phenomenon in ­family businesses that has received only limited attention in previous literature: leadership. More specifically, our focus is on understanding the nature of entrepreneurial leadership in family firms. Family businesses face many unique challenges, and the leadership style of the key family members is central to overcoming many of these challenges. Particularly, family businesses benefit from having leaders with clear vision for the future of the business, leaders with an ability to challenge everyone in the organization to focus on recognizing new opportunities, and leaders who can themselves serve as role models in such opportunity recognition. These are essential elements in our conceptualization of entrepreneurial leadership.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Managerial Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago, 601 S Morgan Street, Chicago, IL, 60614, USA

    Maija Renko

  2. Department of Management, School of Business, The George Washington University, Arlington, VA, USA

    Ayman El Tarabishy

  3. Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Alan L. Carsrud

  4. School of Business and Economics, Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland

    Malin Brännback

Authors
  1. Maija Renko
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  2. Ayman El Tarabishy
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  3. Alan L. Carsrud
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  4. Malin Brännback
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Maija Renko .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. TED ROGERS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, TORONTO, M5B 2K3, Ontario, Canada

    ALAN CARSRUD

  2. Dept. Business Administration, Swedish University Abo, Henriksgatan 7, Turku, 20500, Finland

    Malin Brännback

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© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

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Renko, M., El Tarabishy, A., Carsrud, A.L., Brännback, M. (2012). Entrepreneurial Leadership and the Family Business. In: CARSRUD, A., Brännback, M. (eds) Understanding Family Businesses. International Studies in Entrepreneurship, vol 15. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-0911-3_11

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