The purpose of this article is to review and systematize prior work on technological innovation in family firms and to open up an agenda to guide future research into this promising area. The study shows that family involvement has direct effects on innovation inputs (e.g., R&D expenditures), activities (e.g., leadership in new product development projects), and outputs (e.g., number of new products), as well as moderating effects on the relationships between these steps of technological innovation. The article uses theories applied in family business research (e.g., agency theory) to discuss opportunities for extending technological innovation frameworks by considering family involvement.

We present a framework of how family involvement influences innovation management based on ability (discretion to act) and willingness (disposition to act)

How family firms manage product innovation remains an overlooked topic in existing business research. This happens despite the fact that family businesses play a crucial role across all economies, and they often use technological innovation to nurture their competitive advantage. By drawing upon the resource‐based view of the firm as well as agency, stewardship, and behavioral theories and using empirical evidence gathered through a multiple case study, the paper studies how and why the anatomy of the product innovation process differs between family and nonfamily firms. The analysis shows that family businesses differ from nonfamily ones as regards product innovation strategies and organization of the innovation process.

Il sottoscritto Josip Kotlar, Codice Fiscale KTL JSP 84S30Z 149U , nato a Zara (Croazia) il 30/11/1984, residente a Preston (Regno Unito), in Moor Park Avenue no. 1, consapevole che chiunque rilascia dichiarazioni mendaci è punito ai sensi del codice penale e delle leggi speciali in materia, ai sensi e per gli effetti dell'art. 46 D.P.R. n. 445/2000 DICHIARA che gli autori della pubblicazione scientifica contenuta nel presente documento hanno contributo alla sua realizzazione come indicato di seguito: • De Massis ha scritto le sezioni intitolate "Tradition and Family Businesses", "Sources of Past Knowledge", "Research Gaps and Related Research Questions" per i Research Gaps dal Nr. 1 al Nr. 6 • Frattini ha scritto le sezioni intitolate "Dynamic Capabilities, and Creating and Capturing Value With Innovation", "Forms of Past Knowledge", "Types of Product Innovation" • Kotlar ha scritto le sezioni intitolate "Toward a Model of Innovation Through Tradition", "Illustrative Examples of Long-Lasting and Innovative Family Firms", "Research Gaps and Related Research Questions" per i Research Gaps dal Nr. 7 al Nr. 12 • Messeni Petruzzelli ha scritto le sezioni intitolate "Is Tradition a Resource or a Liability?", "Temporal Search and Tradition", "Interiorization and Reinterpretation Capabilities" • Wright ha scritto la sezione intitolata "Introduction"

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Open Innovation has been one of the most-debated topics in management research in the last decade. Although our understanding of this management paradigm has significantly improved over the last few years, a number of important questions are still unanswered. In particular, an issue that deserves further attention is the anatomy of the organizational change process through which a firm evolves from being a Closed to an Open Innovator.

Research Summary: Research on the internationalization of family firms has flourished in recent years, yet the mechanisms through which family involvement shapes the determinants, processes, and outcomes of internationalization remain little understood and largely undertheorized. We contribute to research at the intersection of international business and family business by examining the roles of different sources of family firm heterogeneity and the context in shaping the determinants, processes, and outcomes of business internationalization. Drawing on this analysis, we summarize the articles published in this special issue and set out an agenda for further research aimed at advancing a more fine‐grained and contextualized understanding of internationalization in family firms.