Sources of entrepreneurial discretion in kinship systems

Collaboration Between Management and Anthropology Researchers: Obstacles and Opportunities

“…Nonetheless, anthropology's history of studying diverse cultures across the globe has also resulted in expertise with application to many business contexts. One example is anthropological kinship theory, which has recently been applied in "family business" studies (Stewart 2010;. Another benefit has been the development of knowledge of both particular cultures and of inter-cultural transactions and communication (Baba 2005;Malefyt & Morais 2012, Chap.…”

The Anthropology of Family Business: An Imagined Ideal

“…Examples include the modes of transmitting property or office, the cultural understanding of "family" itself (Shimizu, 1991), rules of marriage and affinity (Shapiro, 1997;Stockard, 2002), and gender and sex role expectations (Ortner, 1996;Stone, 2010). Crucially for entrepreneurs, the potential for discretion in treatment of kin also varies (Scheffler, 2001;Stewart, 2010). Little wonder that we find that family firms vary across multiple dimensions (Goody, 1996;Stewart & Hitt, 2012;Yanagisako, 2002).…”

“…Strategies include marital choices (e.g. serial monogamy, polygyny) and incorporative practices such as adoption (Stewart, 2010). A related topic is the process of entrepreneurs who dis-embed from kinship obligations at one stage of building their ventures, but re-embed as honored community leaders later on (Hart, 1975;Stewart, 1990).…”

Toward a Kinship Perspective on Entrepreneurship

“…Stewart has long encouraged a kinship perspective in family business and entrepreneurship studies , 2008, 2010a, 2010bStewart & Hitt, 2010Stewart, Lumpkin, & Katz, 2010;Stewart & Miner, 2011) and marked kinship as the "greatest unutilized resource for advancing the field of family business studies" (2003, p. 383). He critiques family business studies for being too business-focused while ignoring the enabling and constraining effect of family relations (Stewart 2010a(Stewart , 2010b; see also Randerson, Bettinelli, Fayolle, & Anderson, 2015;Zellweger, Nason, & Nordqvist, 2012) and argues that family is a fuzzy concept that is hard to define due to contextual and cross-cultural variety (Stewart, 2003;Stewart & Miner, 2011). The concept of kinship instead directs us towards the context-specific meanings of, and social processes within, the family domain, thus avoiding ethnocentric understandings of family (Stewart & Miner, 2011;Stewart & Hitt, 2012).…”