An Exploration of Firm Performance Factors in Family Businesses: Do Families Value Only the "Bottom Line"?

Authors

  • Jose Castillo The University of Texas of the Permian Basin
  • Micheal W. Wakefield Colorado State University-Pueblo

Abstract

Achieving the founder's vision is considered one of the most important organizational objectives for the continued survival and success of family firms. Yet, family dynamics is usually recognized as one of the main causes as to why less than one third of family businesses survive into the second generation of ownership. Contradicting this, others have found that family firms succeed as a result of the strong family ties that bind them. Thus, it appears that family-run firms are a rich mix of complex and interesting themes at play at any one time. Given this rather unsettled portrait of family businesses, we explore the factors of success for these types of businesses framed around the notion that families might value non-financial performance measures over hard "bottom line" results depending on extant family conditions.

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Published

2006-05-20

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An Exploration of Firm Performance Factors in Family Businesses: Do Families Value Only the "Bottom Line"?. (2006). Journal of Small Business Strategy (archive Only), 17(2), 37-52. https://libjournals.mtsu.edu/index.php/jsbs/article/view/67