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While some research on entrepreneurship in family businesses has focused on transgenerational value creation, a gap exists in understanding how such value is generated across generations. The present research offers insights through the lens of dynamic capabilities, which are created by knowledge and in turn generate entrepreneurial performance and value creation. A model is built based on literature and case research. The crucial role of the organizational culture emerges through the empirical study. Family inertia is considered to be a factor preventing the creation of dynamic capabilities. We find that family inertia depends on characteristics of the family business culture, where paternalism and entrepreneurial orientation influence family inertia positively and negatively, respectively. Family firms from Switzerland and Italy active in the beverage industry represent the empirical context. Theoretical and practical implications are offered.

Drawing on the process of resource orchestration, we argue a co‐alignment of multiple factors is needed for family firms to increase performance through entrepreneurship. Specifically, we posit that entrepreneurial orientation provides the mobilizing vision to use the heterogeneous yet complementary knowledge and experiences offered by increased generational involvement toward entrepreneurship. However, without a coordinating mechanism, generational involvement leads to conflict and negative outcomes. When, instead, it is also coordinated via a participative strategy, performance gains are achieved. In sum, results suggest that realizing the benefits from entrepreneurship in family firms is a complicated matter affected by the synchronization of entrepreneurial orientation, generational involvement, and participative strategy. Copyright © 2011 Strategic Management Society.

Family involvement in ownership and management of business varies significantly within family firms. Although the literature recognizes the diversity in family firms, it remains unclear what governance mechanisms are most appropriate to achieve prioritized performance goals of different types of family firms. By combining two established categorizations of family involvement in firm ownership and management, nine types of family firms are identified. Drawing on the configuration approach, we theorize the governance mechanisms likely to most efficiently address the incentive systems, authority relations, and norms of legitimization in each of these types of family firms.

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