Universities have developed family business centers during the past two decades as they and others realized the importance and complexity of family businesses. However, there has been no comprehensive investigation of the unique educational needs of family businesses. The purpose of this study is to explore this subject and to suggest particular areas in family business education that require attention. The study measures the perceptions of university‐based family business program directors about educational issues relevant to family businesses. It also provides important insights and information about the current state of family business education.
This article is the result of a spark that began at the 2002 USASBE Conference. The idea was to collectively rethink the role of the family business center (FBC). Our goal was twofold: to challenge ourselves and the profession to more effectively lead our centers and serve our stakeholders by more clearly identifying the value propositions generally present in family business centers, and to offer a process through which to explicitly communicate these value propositions to the various stakeholders. This is followed by a brief discussion and outline of typical value propositions related to the stakeholder groups.
This article argues that family business centers need to align themselves with their universities' missions through strategic planning. It further argues that in most cases this means building the program on an academic base of either teaching or research. Part of establishing that base includes analyzing the balance among teaching, research, and service (i.e., using the [201c]Holistic Model[201d]). Without this approach, the risk of failure greatly increases. The experience discussed throughout this article is that of a small, private, liberal arts university that, using the approach recommended, built its center on the foundation of teaching. Many of these issues warrant further research.
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