In an increasingly turbulent global economic environment, companies are searching for winning ways of doing business internationally. One frequently discussed type of business is the joint venture. In this article, we argue that the likelihood of success for an international joint venture increases when both partners are family‐owned businesses. These firms have shared values and goals that enable them to bridge cultural barriers more effectively than publicly held corporations.
This article presents an interdisciplinary approach to the study of nepotism. Nepotism is one of the least‐studied and most poorly understood human resource practices, yet its impact on family‐owned businesses, which frequently hire family members, is immense. To be effective consultants to family businesses we must have more than an anecdotal appreciation of nepotism. We also must look at nepotism from an interdisciplinary perspective to truly understand the impact that such policies and practices might have on family firms.
This research note compares data from two surveys of members of the Family Firm Institute conducted during 1990 and 1991 and relates these data to the issues confronting family business as an emerging field. One survey, sent to all Family Firm Institute members, requested demographic data and information pertinent to the Family Firm Institute strategic planning committee. The second survey, sent to those members of Family Firm Institute who self‐identified as service professionals, was designed to investigate practice methodology. Prospects for the development of the field are discussed.
The authors consider the systematic integration of service learning into a professional business school curriculum. Taking a developmental approach, students were involved in service-learning experiences throughout all 4 years of their education. Major barriers of faculty/organizational resistance, institutional infrastructure to support service-learning efforts, and pedagogical/curriculum design are addressed. The article focuses primarily on the pedagogical and curricular design and implementation of service-learning experiences that promote students' personal (moral) and professional (ethical) development.
This article focuses on the function of humor in a small, family-owned business and presents the taxonomy of humor that was found. The various types of humor help maintain low status differentials and help alleviate workplace tension. Humor also has implications for socialization of employees and appears to help create bonds among the employees.Humor has been studied by scholars in a variety of fields, ranging from psychology to biology, anthropology, and sociology (Gruner, 1978; Hertzler, 1970). A limited number of these studies have used the workplace as a research site (Blau, 1963;
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