Family firms as kinship enterprises

Sylvia Yanagisako

No 2019-12, Economics Discussion Papers from Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel)

Abstract: Evidence from around the globe shows that family firms are enduring, resilient forms of profit-seeking and not an archaic, transient form that will inevitably disappear. Social science research has tended to characterize the family values of these firms as producing "efficiency distortions" that adversely affect their financial performance. The author suggests an alternative heuristic approach of treating family firms as kinship enterprises that endure beyond the life of the firm. This approach enables us to understand how the timing of decisions about capital accumulation, expansion and diversification, as well as managerial organization, are shaped by kinship sentiments and intergenerational commitments without setting up an opposition between economic and kinship goals.

Keywords: family firms; kinship; Italian firms; Italian-Chinese joint enterprises (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A13 B55 D22 D91 L21 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec, nep-cfn, nep-hme and nep-sbm
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https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/193175/1/1066771472.pdf (application/pdf)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:ifwedp:201912

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