dc.description.abstract |
This research advocates the evolution of family business and entrepreneurship studies. Focusing on second-generation Chinese family businesses, it has investigated how their entrepreneurial processes are influenced by their family attributes, which leads to different outcomes. Two major constructs were operationalised. First, the notion of "familiness", coined in prior literature to represent the "family side" of a business, was reviewed and conceptualised on three dimensions, namely business objectives, resources, and decision-making, each having five sub-dimensions. By examining business practices on these dimensions and sub-dimensions, "familiness" of given businesses was captured, which located the businesses on a continuum between a family orientation pole and a market orientation pole. Second, entrepreneurial processes were referred to as the creation of an opportunity, which was exploited by organisational means and resulted in market outcomes. Existing business resources determined whether the entrepreneurial processes were internally or externally-oriented. Innovations were treated as both outcomes and validating criteria of the entrepreneurial processes. Three types of innovation were identified, depending on their relevance to the existing business, namely discontinuous, dynamically continuous, and continuous. This research employed a qualitative, case study approach, and semi-structured interviews were undertaken at eight small to medium-sized family businesses in eastern China. The findings support established literature which argues that there is a positive relationship between family orientation, internally-oriented entrepreneurial processes, and continuous innovation. On the other hand, the research indicates that the individual-level transgenerational effects of "familiness" have a significant impact on entrepreneurial processes of second-generation Chinese family businesses. With such an impact, market-oriented businesses do not implement the most externally-oriented entrepreneurial processes, and produce dynamically continuous innovations; while businesses with a hybrid combination of family orientation and market orientation implement the most externally-oriented entrepreneurial processes, and discontinuous innovations. In general, this research has made conceptual and theoretical contributions by suggesting a multi-dimensional notion of "familiness", which includes an individual-level component. In addition, a dual-level approach has been proposed for studies on entrepreneurship in family businesses, emphasising both firm processes and the role of the owner-manager. Implications have been indicated for business practitioners and policy-makers as well. |
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