Despite the prevalence of family businesses around the world, research on their contribution to the digital economy is still needed. A primary appraisal of the characteristics of the family business and the features of digital entrepreneurship suggests that the two phenomena are conflicting. Indeed, the most common descriptions of family businesses convey the idea that they favour stability to change and slow evolutions to upheavals […]

This paper analyzes the role of the owning family’s socio-emotional goals in explaining the level of exports in family small and medium enterprises (SMEs), while investigating the influence of family business essence as an antecedent of socio-emotional goals. A survey studying 46 French family SMEs and a model using partial least squares structural equation modeling reveal that two out of the five hypothesized socio-emotional goals […]

This research offers an explanatory model of family business continuity intentions where it is hypothesized that high family influence on the firm implies a high commitment of family members to the firm and thus a high desire to sustain the family firm in the long run. In addition, the model emphasizes the mediating role of family members’ identification with the firm as well as their […]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assessthe probable influence of some of the emotional costs and returns expected by owners on their family business sale decision; and examine if the perceived economic environment during the economic and financial crisis of 2008 had an impact on the intention to sell their family business. Design/methodology/approach – The research is based on a sample of […]

Cet article puise dans les développements théoriques relatifs à l’apprentissage organisationnel et l’approche de la firme fondée sur le savoir, afin de mieux appréhender le contenu et les processus de développement des savoirs dans le cadre de l’internationalisation de la firme. Aussi, l’objet de l’apprentissage organisationnel dans le cadre de l’internationalisation sera-t-il précisé et le rôle de l’apprentissage cognitif et comportemental décrits et analysés. Des […]

Does the family involvement affect exports in the family firm? The literature seems to support this view even if the direction and magnitude of this impact remains controversial. Drawing on the perspectives of agency [Chrisman et al. 2004; Schulze et al. 2001] and stewardship as applied to family firms [Davis, Schoorman and Donaldson 1997] and also on socio-emotional wealth perspective [Gómez-Mejía et al. 2007], this […]

Purpose – Owing to its specificities, the family small and medium enterprise (SME) shows a particular behavior as for the creation, development, sharing, protection and transmission of knowledge. The purpose of this paper is to study the specificities of the processes of knowledge creation and development in family firms. Design/methodology/approach – Through a questionnaire, hypotheses of the model were tested. The study is based on […]

The financial behavior of the family firm is a recurring topic in the literature. Hirigoyen’s pioneer research (1984) reveals the specificity of the financial behaviors of industrial family medium-sized companies compared to those of the other categories of firms. This type of firms set out effective structures enabling them a better financial management because, on the one hand, they have a long term vision and, […]

L’objectif de la recherche est d’étudier l’internationalisation de la PME familiale en se fondant, d’une part, sur l’approche par les connaissances et en particulier celle de l’apprentissage organisationnel, et d’autre part sur la littérature portant sur les spécificités de l’entreprise familiale. D’un point de vue théorique, l’on réalise une articulation des théories de l’apprentissage et de la création de la connaissance avec les théories séquentielles […]