Family firms in Ibero-America: an introduction

Abstract

Purpose-This paper highlights the importance of understanding family firms in different contexts. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the characteristics and behavior of family firms in Ibero-America, and their contribution and fit to the broader field of research. Based on the five articles in this special issue, this paper attempts to give an overview of their main contributions. Design/methodology/approach-This paper explains in a contextual and analytical way the contributions of five papers that focus their attention on Ibero-American family firms, by linking them to the current research in the field and finding their fit within the broader field of family business. Tackling different topics, these five papers discuss about the comparison between family vs non-family businesses, innovation in family firms, and governance in family firms Findings-Findings suggest that there is a need to stimulate research in family business in Ibero-America, especially Latin America, regarding family business dynamics, the different roles of the family within the enterprise, family governance, and the role of women. With regards to innovation the cultural and economic context play an important role in how they perform innovative activities. Originality/value-This paper contributes to further understanding family firms by discussing the importance of the context and by linking all five papers with the broader literature in family business. The introduction also discusses topics worth to be further researched in Ibero-America.

Family control and ownership monitoring in Stakeholder-oriented corporate governance

“…In Japan, family members' stewardship roles imply that the collectivism culture would mitigate expropriation by family members, an aspect different from individualism culture observed in Anglo-American countries. For instance, cultural aspects affect the effective corporate governance of family controlled firms in Ibero-American countries (Lagos-Cortes and Botero, 2016;Parada et al, 2016). Our study implies the importance of linkage between the corporate governance and cultural aspects.…”

Next Generation External Venturing Practices in Family Owned Businesses

“…Family is a central institutional setting for both social and economic life in Mexico (Aguiló and Aguiló, 2012; Parada et al, 2016) and the most important resource to rely on when starting a venture (Estrada‐Robles et al, 2020). A family provides trust and protection, which is fundamental as there is a shortage of these qualities due to high levels of societal risks and uncertainties in Latin America when launching a business (e.g., Discua Cruz et al, 2013).…”

What kind of firm do you owner-manage? An institutional logics perspective of individuals’ reasons for becoming an entrepreneur

“…To explore and test the general conjecture that firms under the influence of opportunity-oriented vs family-oriented owner-managers differ in their internal practices, purpose, strategies, and performance, I use an extensive random sample of small and medium Chilean firms. Chile is representative of the Latin American culture, for which the family serves as an important economic actor affecting business activities (Müller et al , 2018; Parada et al , 2016). The 2007 “Encuesta Longitudinal de Empresas Survey” was commissioned by the Ministry of Economy of Chile and undertaken by the Bureau of Statistics.…”