Non-Market-Based Transfers of Wealth and Power: A Research Framework for Family Businesses

Abstract

Family businesses are basically owner-managed enterprises with the family Involved within the business. When, to family ties within the business, is added the biological inevitability of an eventual transfer of power, family succession becomes an alternative to selling the business–-a transfer based on non-market considerations. A framework for studying family businesses is proposed which has succession as its anchor. The succession process is where changes in management, in strategy, and in control are planned for and executed. The framework is built upon stages of the family enterprise which emanate from the biological reality of parent and offspring being separated by age and business experience but wedded together by “blood” and a shared family experience.

Effects of Porter’s Generic Competitive Strategies on the Performance of Savings and Credit Cooperatives (Saccos) in Murang’a County, Kenya

“…The questionnaire comprised of items measured on a Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). This method was appropriate as it is easy to complete and thus has a high response rate (Churchill, 1987). To ensure a high response rate the researcher issued the questionnaires personally and made follow-up visits and phone calls to the respondents.…”

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“…Handler (1990) defined it as a business run by at least one family member. Churchill and Hatten (1987) also described family business as a founder-operated business where there is anticipation that the business will be passed to the next generation. All these definitions give an impression and basic understanding of what family business mean.…”

“…One of the best strategies for effective entrepreneurship is the establishment of family business (Churchill and Hatten, 1987). Handler (1990) and a host of others have made frantic efforts to arrive at a unified definition of family owned business, particularly in the social sciences research domain, but have ended up offering different views on the definition of family business.…”

The role of management accounting in family business succession

“…Scholars have identified this multi-stage process through a life-cycle approach (Churchill and Hatten, 1987;Longenecker and Schoen, 2002). Handler (1990) typifies succession as "a mutual adjustment process between the founder and the next-generation family members".…”