Succession Narratives in Family Business: The Case of Alessi

Abstract

One of the most significant challenges facing family firms is how to successfully manage succession from one generation of leaders to the next. In this paper, we contribute to existing understandings of this complex and difficult process by exploring how successors use family business succession narratives to legitimate their succession. Building on a case study of Alessi, a family-owned Italian design firm, we draw on the literature on organizational narratives to develop a framework for understanding family business succession narratives and present a typology of some of the narrative strategies that can be used during succession. We conclude with a discussion of the theoretical and practical ramifications of a narrative view of succession in family firms.

Navigating the family business: A gendered analysis of identity construction of daughters

“…Accordingly, the current research aims to make a methodological contribution to the emerging field of narrative research on family business succession (Dalpiaz, Tracey and Phillips, 2014).…”

Responding from that Vantage Point: Field Position and Discursive Strategies of Legitimation in the U.S. Wireless Telegraphy Field

“…Framing strategies are employed in the texts that organizations produce -such as publications, annual reports, or blogs -and are used to enhance legitimacy and persuade other field actors of their views. Framing strategies rely on several different forms of organizational discourse, ranging from vocabularies and rhetoric to narratives, ante-narratives, and storytelling (Barros, 2014;Dalpiaz & Phillips, 2014;Erkama & Vaara, 2010;Jones & Livne-Tarandach, 2008;Lefsrud & Meyer, 2012;Suddaby & Greenwood, 2005;Vaara & Tienari, 2011;Wry, Lounsbury, & Glynn, 2011). These discourses include different types of strategies, theorizations, problematizing, or sense-giving and sense-hiding (e.g., Maguire & Hardy, 2009;Vaara & Monin, 2010;Vaara et al, 2006).…”

Family Enterprise and Context

“…In the next article, the impact of governance, corporate strategy, and prior performance on investments in research and development (R&D) among two samples of high-tech U.S. family and nonfamily firms is analyzed (Gomez-Mejia et al, 2013). Finally, an identification of some of the methods by which narratives can be used in certain cultural contexts to legitimize successors and their strategies is the topic of the final article (Dalpiaz, Tracey, & Phillips, 2014).…”