Edward Elgar Publishing Research Handbook on Family Business Strategy

Why do some family businesses exhibit strategies and performance vastly different from those of other family businesses? What makes family businesses unique? The answers to these questions exist in the nuances, intricacies, and variations between family firms and can also be explained in the differences between them and non-family businesses. This innovative Research Handbook provides fresh perspectives on all aspects of family business strategy, exploring the idea that family businesses themselves are distinct in how they act, with leadership, generational dynamics, familization, history, branding, and context playing a role in shaping business strategy and its successful implementation. Chapters evaluate family businesses across five areas: new perspectives, strategy for generational succession planning, familization, family-driven strategic resources and context-driven strategic influences. Concentrating on family business heterogeneity, they explore why some family businesses excel while others fade, how families’ socioeconomic features and business decisions are inextricably linked, and how family dynamics, history, branding and practice shape the trajectories of family business strategies. The Research Handbook concludes with a discussion of how context influences family business strategies, calling for future research that delves into context, family and business as sources and drivers of differences in family business strategies and their success. The Research Handbook on Family Business Strategy is a vital resource for scholars and students of business, entrepreneurship and strategic management. Family business managers and entrepreneurs will also benefit from its comprehensive overview of family business strategy and insights from cutting-edge research.