Family business

Multiple Case Study Analysis on the Consequences of Mandatory Sustainability Reporting in Private German Family Firms

Ralf Ebner, Technical University of Munich (Master thesis)
Junior Management Science 9(2), 2024, 1540-1566

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This study explores the consequences of the Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting Directive (CSRD) on family firms. The European Commission (EC) extends under the CSRD the number of reporting companies from approximately 12,000 to 50,000, with the greatest increase in Germany. For 2025, around 13,000 German private family firms must disclose a sustainability report for the first time. Preparing a sustainability report that meets the requirements of the CSRD involves its own consequences. Based on a multiple case study of ten private German family firms, I develop a framework that illustrates implementation challenges and provides guidance to unlock business opportunities. Building on family business research, I contribute to the literature by differentiating family firms based on their sustainability strategy and maturity of sustainability reporting. This allows us to derive three archetypes facing varying implementation challenges. The analysis reveals direct and indirect opportunities along a firm’s value chain. After introducing a reporting process, all archetypes can benefit from direct opportunities, whereas a proactive sustainability strategy needs to unlock indirect opportunities.

Keywords: corporate sustainability; corporate sustainability reporting directive; family firms; mandatory sustainability reporting; socioemotional wealth.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5282/jums/v9i2pp1540-1566

Leveraging Credit Ratings Through Impression Management: An Exploratory Study of German Small and Medium-Sized Family Firms

Ludwig Marrenbach, EBS Business School (Master thesis)
Junior Management Science 9(2), 2024, 1511-1539

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In an era marked by multi-crisis environments, the significance of corporate finance and credit ratings amplifies, especially for German small- and medium-sized family firms, often constrained in accessing capital markets. This thesis investigates how family firms employ impression management strategies within qualitative credit ratings to enhance their creditworthiness. Through exploratory qualitative research involving 17 interviews with German family firms and banks, primarily financing the Mittelstand, three key dimensions of impression management emerge: family-specific, business-specific, and relationshipspecific tactics. Family-specific factors, including values and generational succession, significantly influence qualitative credit rating scores. Moreover, the interplay between firms and banks, orchestrated by the owning family, shapes effective impression management strategies. This research underscores the role of family involvement in shaping qualitative credit ratings, emphasizing the interrelations among family, business, and banking dynamics. The discussion highlights the relevance and adaptability of these impression management dimensions, contributing to a deeper understanding of qualitative credit rating processes within the context of family firms.

Keywords: credit rating; family firm; impression management; leveraging credit ratings; qualitative rating factors.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5282/jums/v9i2pp1511-1539

Analysing the Sustainability of Procurement in Family Businesses – A Study of Measurable Investments and Practices Based on ESG Principles

Philipp Schmidt, WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management (Bachelor thesis)
Junior Management Science 9(2), 2024, 1485-1510

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Sustainability has gained considerable prominence in recent decades as the inevitability of change becomes increasingly apparent. Family businesses constitute a significant and influential part of the global economy. Therefore, they are pivotal in addressing the world’s sustainability challenges. Despite extensive research on sustainability in corporations and public firms, there remains a dearth of comparable data concerning sustainability in privately owned family businesses. Through qualitative interviews and cross-case analyses, this thesis investigates the procurement practices within family businesses, deriving comparative insights guided by Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria. The findings evaluate family businesses based on the ESG framework, visualising the development and integration of sustainable practices into the procurement processes. The research highlights the indirect impact of sustainability on developing competencies that can confer a competitive advantage. Additionally, it sheds light on the potential financial benefits reported by family businesses that have implemented sustainability measures. Overall, the findings contribute to the existing academic research on sustainability in businesses and family business studies.

Keywords: ESG; family business; performance-based assessment; procurement; qualitative interviews; sustainability.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5282/jums/v9i2pp1485-1510

Unforeseen Succession – Identity Change Amongst Lateral Entrants in Family Firms

Pia Doris Morrow, EBS Business School (Bachelor thesis)
Junior Management Science 9(2), 2024, 1464-1484

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Due to the increasing globalization of today’s world, descendants of family firms are often drawn to the unlimited opportunities outside their premises and no longer see their future workplace or the core of their identity within the family organization. However, this can lead to a rude awakening if so-called unforeseen events, which can range from death or illness of a family member to intra-family conflicts, changes in the business model and even financial problems, arise. This thesis examines the effects of such unexpected successions on the identity of lateral entrants in family firms and presents a roadmap with practical and theoretical action implications for unplanned successors during the pre-, initial, and post-succession phase. The analysis of qualitative data from interviews with lateral entrants and experts revealed overlaps in identity constructs and experiences. Before the occurrence of an unforeseen event, lateral entrants already displayed entrepreneurial traits and a willingness to take risks but lacked connection to the family firm and interest in succession. During the initial succession phase, they prioritized rationality, efficient teams, and immediate action over emotional processing. After an average of three years, lateral entrants became confident family entrepreneurs. Furthermore, unforeseen successors showed great interest in arranging their own succession at an early stage in order to pass on what they had learned and counteract crisis situations preventively. In general, the interviewed candidates demonstrated a continuous process of developing their own successor identity, which did not develop disruptively but rather steadily and was characterized by specific milestones shown in the successor roadmap of this thesis.

Keywords: crisis management; family firm succession; Gioia methodology; social identity theory; unforeseen succession.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5282/jums/v9i2pp1464-1484

Impact of CSR on Firm Performance: The Moderating Role of Family Ownership in Individualistic & Collectivistic Countries

Abhishek Omprakash Singh, Technical University of Munich (Master thesis)
Junior Management Science 9(2), 2024, 1445-1463

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The objective of this study is to have a cross-country examination of the moderating role of family ownership on the corporate social responsibility (CSR) – financial performance (FP) relationship, also understanding how the moderating effect is influenced by cultural dimensions of collectivism and individualism. The study thereby incorporates views from both the Stakeholder theory and the Institutional theory. The study employs the one-way fixed effects regression analysis. Firm-year observations for the period of 2013 to 2022 of 439 firms across 35 countries are included. The magnitude of the interaction term is then inspected across the deemed collectivistic and individualistic cultures. The study finds that the degree of family ownership positively moderates the CSR-FP relationship and this moderation effect is stronger for collectivistic countries. The study is a novel approach to taking the CSR-FP subject with the family ownership moderating effect in a cross-country setting and it uniquely measures family ownership, not as the usual binary or subjective construct. The results of the study yield an interesting insight on the appropriate ownership structure for family members, and the status of legitimacy and trust family businesses can leverage with CSR to improve FP.

Keywords: collectivism; corporate social responsibility (CSR); family ownership; financial performance (FP); individualism.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5282/jums/v9i2pp1445-1463

Comparison of the Preferential Treatment of Retained Earnings with the Option Model for Family Partnerships

Anna Vitten, Bochum University of Applied Sciences (Master thesis)
Junior Management Science 9(2), 2024, 1414-1444

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The different taxation concepts of partnerships and corporations in Germany lead to systematic disparities and sometimes significant differences in tax burdens, particularly in the case of profit retention. However, legislators are increasingly pursuing the goal of harmonization through tax concessions and options for partnerships. In addition to the preferential treatment of retained earnings in accordance with Section 34a EStG, from 2022 a partnership can be taxed in accordance with the provisions for corporations by means of the new Section 1a KStG. This paper examines the benefits of both options for the primary target group – i.e. „family partnerships“. In doing so, the special tax requirements and needs arising from the typical characteristics of family partnerships are defined. It becomes clear that the legislator’s aim of achieving taxation that is neutral in terms of legal form cannot be achieved in its current form.

Keywords: § 1a KStG; § 34a EStG; family business; option model; preferential treatment.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5282/jums/v9i2pp1414-1444

Innovation Collaboration Between Family Firms and Startups: Insights From the German Construction Industry

Anne Scharmann, WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management (Master thesis)
Junior Management Science 9(2), 2024, 1384-1413

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Seeking to increase their innovative strength, family firms increasingly collaborate with startups to explore new technologies, act upon trends, and rejuvenate their corporate culture. While family firms usually innovate incrementally, collaborating with startups allows them to take a more radical approach to innovation to explore new business models and enter untapped markets. The present study aims to contribute to the emerging research field around innovation collaboration between family firms and startups by providing insights from the German construction industry. Drawing on the findings of 40 interviews, comprising four exploratory case studies and 24 expert interviews, this study analyzes impediments, mitigation mechanisms, and prospects of family firm startup collaboration in the German construction industry. The findings reveal that impediments emerge before and during collaboration and are influenced by the construction industry’s context. Involved organizations address these impediments by leveraging mitigation mechanisms, including trust-building, financial incentivization, stakeholder involvement, and communication. In this way, innovation collaboration with startups can help strengthen family-owned construction companies’ future viability in an evolving industry.

Keywords: construction industry; family firm (FF); family firm startup collaboration (FSC); innovation collaboration; startup (SU).

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5282/jums/v9i2pp1384-1413

Digital Transformation in Family Businesses

Georg Streicher, Technical University of Munich (Bachelor thesis)
Junior Management Science 8(4), 2023, 865-886

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Nowadays, the impact of digital technologies on all businesses is inescapable for their managers and is receiving a great deal of attention in research and businesses. Digitalization as an ongoing process has just begun and will continue to drive many decision-making processes. So far, much research has been done on technical implementations and digital technologies as such, but there is still a lack of research on the decision-making processes around digitalization, especially in small and medium-sized businesses with limited resources, such as the economically important family businesses (FBs) in Germany. These FBs have a massive impact on value creation in Germany and include many global market leaders. Based on eleven interviews with family and non-family member Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and employees, the thesis shows which drivers and barriers exist in the digitalization process in FBs and how they influence the process. Moreover, their influence on the digitalization of the business model is examined. The results of the thesis provide implications for how FBs can successfully master digitalization and use it to their advantage. Finally, the thesis suggests opportunities for future research in digitalization in FBs and on identified correlations in the cases.

Keywords: Digital transformation; Family business; Digitalization.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5282/jums/v8i4pp865-886

Ethical Problems in Family Firms

Elena Kowalik, WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management (Bachelorarbeit)
Junior Management Science 8(2), 2023, 431-452

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Various articles suggest that particular ethical problems occur in family firms, but until now, no attempt has been made to collect and structure available information on them. Based on the systematic review of 110 articles from peer-reviewed academic journals, we show that family firms face a set of unique ethical dilemmas and define those. They can either be family-based or business-based and we uncover the antecedents and outcomes of the processes that family firms employ to solve them. When family firms manage to deal with ethical problems appropriately, they will be rewarded for that in various ways, including improved financial performance and the preservation of potentially all SEW dimensions.

Keywords: Family firms; Business ethics; Socioemotional wealth.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5282/jums/v8i2pp431-452

Innovation Performance of Family and Founder Firms: Empirical Evidence from German Listed Companies

Simon Mueller, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main (Masterarbeit)
Junior Management Science 8(2), 2023, 333-357

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Based on the agency perspective and the resource-based view of the firm, this study explores the impact of lone founder and family influence on innovation input and innovation output. By separating the lone founder and family effect into ownership, management, and governance influence dimensions, we analyze a panel data set of 165 German listed companies from 2013 through 2017. We first investigate R&D intensity in lone founder and family firms versus other firms by using investments in research and development as a measure for innovation input. Secondly, we apply a negative binomial regression model to analyze R&D productivity within the three types of firms by proxying innovation output with the filed number of granted patents within a certain year. According to the results, we mainly find that founder firms superiorly invest in innovation and strengthen their competitive position in the market through their entrepreneurial orientation. Family firms, on the other hand, might weaken future growth potential as they invest less in R&D and are not able to convert this lower input in superior innovation output.

Keywords: Lone founder firms; Family firms; Innovation performance; R&D intensity; R&D productivity.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5282/jums/v8i2pp333-357

Performance of German Family Firms During the Global Financial Crisis

Thilo Wenig, WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management (Masterarbeit)
Junior Management Science 6(2), 2021, 237-278

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Research on family firm performance has led to inconclusive results which is why scholars called for a differentiated consideration of family firms during exogenous shocks, where costs and benefits of the inherent ownership structure are assumed to be magnified. Following these calls, I use the Global Financial Crisis of 2007 – 2009 as a unique natural experiment where firms have been moved out of their equilibrium while ownership structure maintained constant in the near term. I differentiate between true family firms and lone founder firms and hypothesize that the firm performance of both ownership structures during the Global Financial Crisis is higher than for non-family firms. In a study of 178 firms listed in the German Prime Standard, I found that lone founder ownership was significantly associated with higher firm performance during the GFC, while showing no differences in performance during the period of stable economic conditions prior to the crisis. For true family ownership, in contrast, the results suggest a general tendency of superior performance during the steady-state pre-crisis period, but it could not be established that these firms outperformed other firms during the GFC. Analogously, I found that the presence of a family CEO in true family firms is beneficial for firm performance during stable economic conditions, but the advantageousness seems to vanish in times of severe financial distress.

Keywords: Family firm; ownership; governance; performance; crisis.

The M&A Behavior of Family Firms

Jinhao Shu, WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management (Bachelorarbeit)
Junior Management Science 6(4), 2021, 673-699

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The present study aims to identify the driving acquisition goals of family firms’ acquisitions and analyse the role of innovation
in these acquisitions. Therefore, the study deploys a qualitative approach investigating 15 German family firms to derive
patterns within the qualitative data. As a result, the study proposes 14 propositions, which mainly suggest a co-existence of
multiple goals in acquisitions. Similarly, the propositions argue that the goals related to the categories of expansion, market
competitiveness and innovation are decisively driving the acquisitions undertaken by family firms. The study further proposes
that the acquisition of innovation is a critical key to the success of family firms and a means to an end for achieving other
related goals such as the survival of family firms. Beyond getting a broader understanding of the acquisitions made by family
firms, the study shows further avenues for research in the field of family firms’ M&A activities.

Keywords: Family Firm; Innovation; Mergers & Acquisitions; Drivers of Mergers & Acquisitions; Acquisitions Motives; Acquisition Goals; Innovation in Mergers & Acquisitions.

The Impact of Management, Family and Employee Ownership Concentration on Firm Performance

Michael Amroudi, Technische Universität München (Bachelorarbeit)
Junior Management Science 6(1), 2021, 81-99

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This thesis investigates the relation between ownership structure and firm performance using a sample of 2,120 publicly traded European companies. The question of whether this relation should be positive or negative has been the subject of a wide-ranging discussion and was addressed by many researchers. Of particular interest have been management, family, and employee owners. Nevertheless, there is no consensus in the literature, and empirical studies on European companies are scarce. Utilising data from the European Federation of Employee Share Ownership (EFES) and the Bureau Van Dijk Orbis database, this relation is analysed using multiple linear regression with continuous and categorical predictors. The results show that firms having a management owner concentration up to strategic levels report a significantly higher Tobin’s Q than firms having a no or no significant management concentration. The same effect holds true for family owners and employee owners. Measuring the ownership structure as the fraction of shares of the largest shareholder does not yield a significant effect and highlights the value of management, family, and employee owners.

Keywords: Ownership concentration; family ownership; management ownership; employee ownership; firm performance.

Erfolgsrelevante Kompetenzen von Führungskräften in Change-Management-Prozessen in Familienunternehmen

Lena Hinkelmann, WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management (Bachelorarbeit)
Junior Management Science 5(2), 2020, 176-196

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Viele Organisationen und Unternehmen befinden sich derzeit in einem radikalen Wandel – insbesondere ausgelöst durch die digitale Transformation und die zunehmende Internationalisierung. Für das Gelingen der Change-Management-Prozesse sind maßgeblich Führungskräfte verantwortlich, wodurch deren Kompetenzen für erfolgreiches Transformationsmanagement verstärkt in den Fokus der Forschung rücken. Diese Fähigkeiten werden im Rahmen der folgenden Publikation mithilfe eines qualitativen, auf semi-strukturierten Leitfadeninterviews basierenden Ansatz erforscht. Als Fazit sind zwei zentrale Erkenntnisse hervorzuheben: Erstens wurden zehn erfolgsrelevante Fähigkeiten einer Führungskraft im Change von Familienunternehmen identifiziert, welche sich in drei Metaebenen – die mitarbeiter-, persönlichkeits- und die ressourcenorientierten Kompetenzen – unterteilen lassen. Zweitens kam die Arbeit zu dem Ergebnis, dass die erfolgsrelevanten Change-Kompetenzen einer Führungskraft im Familienunternehmen stark vom Kontext – insbesondere von der Mitarbeiteranzahl, dem Reifegrad der Mitarbeitenden und dem Fortschritt im Change – abhängen.

Keywords: Change Management; Familienunternehmen; Leadership; Change Management Kompetenzen; Transformationsprozesse.

Recruiting Generation Y for the Backbone of Economy: Organizational Attractiveness of Small, Family Owned, and Rural Firms

Johannes Caprano, Technische Universität München (Masterarbeit)
Junior Management Science 4(4), 2019, 493-523

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Despite their outstanding economic importance, small, family owned, and rural firms find it hard to attract talent. Upon initial contact with recruiting organizations, job seekers use any of their observable characteristics, such as size, ownership, or location to infer attributes of the employment offering. Based on this assessment, they may feel attracted to an organization and develop intentions to pursue the employment opportunity. Following behavioral psychology, the consistency between organizational attractiveness and job pursuit intentions is affected by the amount of job seekers’ direct experience with the firm type. For small, family owned, and rural firms, direct experience may be lower due to their relative anonymousness. The strength and direction of inferences made based on organizational characteristics as well as metacognitive assessments were tested using a vignette experiment. A sample of 200 Generation Y students and professionals rated fictitious firms based on their size, ownership, and location. The results show support of the indirect influence of these organizational characteristics on job pursuit intentions, mediated by employment attributes and organizational attractiveness. Family ownership led to positive evaluations while small size and rural location had a negative impact on job pursuit intentions. Another important contribution of this study is a validated two-stage implementation of firm location as a predictor of organizational attractiveness.

Keywords: Organizational attractiveness; family firm; SME; rural firm; hidden champion.

Economic- and Non-Economic Goals of Family Firms

Markus Probst, Otto Beisheim School of Management (Bachelorarbeit)
Junior Management Science 3(4), 2018, 30-47

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Motivated by a lack in the current literature, this thesis reviews academic research on the economic and noneconomic goals of family firms. Heretofore, no detailed overview of different goals embedded in the goal setting-, outcome-, and alignment process has been provided. Using a systematic literature search and review process, I identify 117 relevant studies in the fields of management, economics, and affiliated domains between 1963 and 2018. Beyond a more detailed overview of the current state of research, I outline goal setting, outcomes, alignment, and four different family firm goal classes. Lastly, I show avenues for future research in the family firm–goal field.

Keywords: Family firms, economic goals, non-economic goals, socioemotional wealth

When Family Businesses Sell

Christopher Khoury, Otto Beisheim School of Management (Bachelorarbeit)
Junior Management Science 3(2), 2018, 151-169

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Family businesses favor the transition of ownership taking place within the family. However, the internal succession often fails, leading families to sell their businesses. Thus, in this thesis I aim to investigate the reasons of families for selling their businesses. I compare the perspectives of family owners and their potential successors to reveal their motives for selling the business to an external buyer. I put forward the proposition that the feasibility of a sale option is dependent on the potential sale scenario and the possible survival of the business to increase the sale inclination. My research is based on eight individual interviews with family owners and the next generation. Provided that those family businesses do not have specific internal succession thoughts, I exposed six different scenarios that have a positive or negative inclination towards selling the family business. Once the family owner or the next generation has established a sale intention a sale process is triggered. In my thesis I explore the sale terms that influence the negotiations during the sale process. My findings indicate that the survival of the firm has certain significance in the sale process. Families carefully examine the buyer, the acquisition price, and the anticipated durability in order to decide whether they complete a deal or discontinue the sale process with the particular buyer. With the discontinuance of the sale process, the intention to sell is still present, and the businesses reenter the sale process.

Keywords: Family Business, Mergers and Acquisitions, Management Buy-out/in, Succession, Sales Process