Family Businesses and Their Transition to Industry 4.0: Human Resource Perspectives From Bangladesh

Industry 4.0 (I4.0) is the new paradigm shift impacting businesses today. This study explores the state of Bangladeshi family businesses in adapting to I4.0 using a qualitative research methodology. Top management personnel were interviewed to capture their insights on transitioning to I4.0. The thematic analysis revealed four themes, current state of the businesses, challenges faced, pandemic impact on human resources, and future plans. Findings indicate high awareness and greater adoption of digital practices with COVID-19 acting as a catalyst. Although training is emphasized, there is a lack of focus on both career and general counselling, which may prove to be detrimental in the future. The study takes a resource-based view to find the bundle of resources acting as conditions for the family firms to evolve into the I4.0, thereby making a practical contribution to understanding the role of family businesses in implementing I4.0 policies to enrich their human resource competencies and leverage the benefits of I4.0.

Owner-manager emotions and strategic responses of small family businesses to the COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 pandemic, a consensus crisis that has had a profound effect on societies and economies globally, compelled family businesses to respond strategically in order to remain afloat. We examine the role of their owner-managers' emotions in the strategic response to the COVID-19 pandemic, drawing on 38 in-depth interviews with owner-managers of small family businesses in Cyprus. Our findings reveal that owner-managers have experienced mainly negative emotions during the pandemic, including higher levels of stress, insecurity, fear, and doubt. By reflecting on these emotions, owner-managers can activate affective mechanisms and apply a stewardship logic to respond strategically. We contribute to the family business literature by conceptualizing key processes at the intersection between owner-manager emotions and strategic responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. By focusing on individual (that is, owner-manager) emotional processes and stewardship attitudes, our study provides a microfoundational explanation of strategic responses during external crises and offers both theoretical and practical implications. © 2023 International Council for Small Business.

Father's role and responsible ownership: The case of three family businesses in Indonesia

This study aims to see the importance of the father's role and the responsibility of ownership in three family companies in Indonesia. The family company's success cannot be separated from the father's role, responsible as the family company's owner. The study used a qualitative approach method. This study is based on interviews with three different family companies. Our findings present that those fathers who have prepared early and involve the second generation in the family business are more adaptable to business. An interesting finding is that it depends, however, on the interests of the next generation. For example, if the next generation prefers operations, this is not easy to reconcile with their father's desire to focus on marketing. In the twenty-first century, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, entrepreneurship has changed. The family businessman's role is increasingly important amid market dynamics so that it affects globally. © 2022 by Emerald Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.

Building resilience during the Covid-19 pandemic: the journey of a small entrepreneurial family firm in Brazil

PurposeThe present study used a process approach to examine how a small entrepreneurial family business in the tourism industry evolved during different stages of the Covid-19 pandemic and across different dimensions of resilience.Design/methodology/approachThe research strategy consisted of a real-time longitudinal case study during the Covid-19 pandemic in Brazil, based on interviews conducted with the founders of the business.FindingsThe results show how the firm responded to the pandemic and moved through different stages – interruption, loss, resumption, and recovery – as the crisis evolved. During each stage, there were manifestations of different dimensions of organizational resilience: anticipation/awareness, coping and adaptation. The entrepreneurs mobilized several capabilities – emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and relational – during the different stages and across different dimensions to face and respond to the pandemic.Originality/valueThe contributions of the study stem from the lack of research on how small entrepreneurial family businesses in the tourism industry are impacted by disruptive events of long duration and multiple cycles. Specifically, the study contributes to the understanding of how this type of firm responds to these crises, mobilizing different capabilities at different stages and across different dimensions of organizational resilience.

The role of emotions in B2B product advertising on social media: a family business case study

PurposeThe outbreak of Covid-19 increased the average time spent on social media (SM). This led to a transformation in how companies manage their digital marketing channels and created additional pressure for business-to-business (B2B) and family businesses, which tend to focus more on personal relationships with customers and stakeholders than on the implementation of digital marketing strategies on SM. The present research examines the case study of a Facebook advertising campaign created to promote the products and business values of an Italian family firm specialising in the production and commercialisation of biostimulants for agriculture.Design/methodology/approachThe research aims to combine digital marketing avenues (i.e. a Facebook advertising campaign) with established psychological and behavioural theories, such as the dual process theories, by comparing the effects of two promotional videos (emotional vs functional).FindingsThe results suggest that emotional videos generate more passive behaviours, such as views, as well as active behaviours in the form of likes, comments and shares, while functional videos induce people to search for more information about the advertised products.Originality/valueThis is the first study to validate the role of Facebook advertising campaigns in developing an information-based approach to B2B family firms by testing the effectiveness of a targeted campaign comparing the impact of emotional and functional cues on increasing users' engagement while optimising the circulation of video content. The study helps to reduce the academic–practice gap by investigating the example of a fruitful integration between academic research and management practice.

Strategic responses of the family businesses in accommodation industry: lessons for overcoming crises

PurposeThe purpose of this study is threefold: 1) to examine the relevance of specific strategic orientations for family businesses in the context of an intense crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic;2) to investigate the role of a family adaptability in surviving the crisis;and 3) to assess how proactive strategic responses connected with marketing or retrenchment responses connected with reducing costs relate to the expected survival of the crisis.Design/methodology/approachThe method adopted is a quantitative research approach. The theoretical framework uses a partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) for the data collected from an online survey of a sample of 544 family businesses in the accommodation industry.FindingsThis paper makes three main findings. First, family businesses that invest in operational marketing actions as a strategic response to the crisis have a high expectation of surviving the crisis. Second, family businesses that reduce their operational and labor costs as a strategic response have a low expectation of surviving the crisis. Third, the family business's adaptability is also fundamental to their expectation of survival.Originality/valueThis is the first paper to identify the possible reactions of family businesses to the COVID-19 crisis. the authors show that there are proactive or retrenchment strategic responses, and the authors relate those responses to the expectancy of surviving the crisis. This is also the first study to examine the relevance of family adaptability as a measure of the resilience of family businesses and, therefore, as a determinant of the expectation of surviving the crisis.

Responsible leadership practices in the hospitality sector family businesses: evidence from an emerging market

Purpose: The study aims to find out the extent to which hospitality sector family-owned businesses in Egypt feel committed to responsible leadership practices and subsequently meet their stakeholders' expectations. Design/methodology/approach: The authors conducted semi-structured interviews with 24 owners of family restaurants in Egypt. Thematic analysis was undertaken on the collected data resulting in four major themes. Findings: The authors find that the four dimensions (aggregation of virtuousness, stakeholder involvement, individual competencies and ethical contributions) are not fully exercised by the owners despite their readiness to behave correctly according to social norms. Furthermore, the respondents elaborated that they do not fully understand how to commence playing a role in contributing to the common good in their societies. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, the present study is the first to empirically investigate responsible leadership practices in the context of small and medium-sized family businesses (restaurants in this case), particularly in the emerging market and non-Western contexts. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Bouncing forward or bouncing back? How family firms enact resilience in times of crisis

PurposeThe study aims to develop theoretical understanding about how family-run businesses navigate unexpected and highly disruptive events by examining how family-based resilience capacity is variously transformed into an organizational capability.Design/methodology/approachThe study relies on a qualitative comparative case study design to explore how Croatian family-run businesses navigated market and operational disruptions brought on by the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Drawing on semi-structured interviews and organizational data, this study compares how family-run businesses operating in different industries experienced and coped with disruptions. Using inductive qualitative coding methods, patterns across codes were identified and aggregated into dimensions that describe two broad approaches for leveraging family social capital in the enactment of organizational resilience.FindingsThe analysis shows that family-run businesses may employ family social capital in retrospective and prospective ways. A retrospective approach involves targeted and conservative uses of family social capital, wherein the aim is to maintain organizational functioning and return to "business as usual”. In contrast, a prospective approach employs these resources in a more strategic and flexible way to adapt to a "new” future. While both approaches can enable firms to successfully navigate crises, these approaches differ in terms of their temporal orientation and implications for marketing flexibility.Originality/valueThe study contributes to a better understanding of how family social capital can be differentially leveraged in times of crises, and how these differences may stem from having temporal orientations that focus on either preserving the past or adapting to new conditions. The study advances theorizing at the intersection of organizational resilience and family business by deepening understanding of the heterogeneity of ways in which family businesses manage change for long-term business continuity. For owners and managers of family-run business, the study provides insights into how unexpected disruptions can be managed and how businesses might respond to fast-changing market conditions.

Family businesses in tourism – the use of digital technologies in times of uncertainty and crisis

PurposeThe main purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of digital technologies on the promotion of tourist offer from the perspective of family businesses. The paper tries to provide a better understanding of the factors that determine the use of digital technologies in the family tourism business, both in the modern digital world and in times of uncertainty and crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachThe survey method was used in the realization of the research. Data were collected using a stratified random sample of 86 tourism providers in Montenegro and analyzed by using SEM models, logistic regression and descriptive statistics.FindingsThe results showed that the demographic characteristics of the respondents were the least important factors in the analysis;while factors that significantly affected the use of digital technologies in Montenegrin tourism included the nature of future tourism trends perceived by respondents, crisis and uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, participants' perceptions, attitudes and understanding of the specificities of digital technologies and benefits they offer to tourists, perceived from the perspective of the family business representative. Furthermore, the results of logistic regression revealed that pandemic had stronger consequences on micro and small enterprises, compared to those imposed on medium-sized firms. These impacts relate to changes in organization and redesign of workflows, altered communication from traditional to digital and increased importance of business innovations. On the other hand, the increased significance of integration of marketing channels for multiple target segments, as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, was stronger pronounced in medium-sized businesses compared to micro and small ones.Originality/valueThe results obtained may serve the holders of the tourist offer, managers and decision-makers when making decisions on the imposition of digital technologies in tourism, in order to secure global reach business, multi-channel tourist interaction, cost-saving and being ahead of competitors. This enables an integrated analysis that forms the basis for further creation of tourism and marketing policies at the individual and collective level to attract tourists and strengthen Montenegro's competitiveness as a destination.

Family businesses navigating the COVID-19 pandemic through a gender perspective: the role of external and internal factors in stimulating dynamic capability development

PurposeThe paper aims to decipher, through intertwined external and internal perspectives, how female and male owners of family businesses (FB) that have been affected by the pandemic develop new capabilities to respond to the market's crisis-related needs. Specifically, this study seeks to decipher the role of external support, mediated by the owner's psychological capital (i.e. internal perspective) and moderated by gender, on the development of capabilities related to the market's changing needs, drawing on the dynamic capabilities conceptualization.Design/methodology/approachA sample of responses from 261 Canadian FB owners was generated during the pandemic, and online questionnaires were distributed.FindingsRegression analyses and Hayes' PROCESS tool revealed that while external support directly invigorates capability development, external support is also mediated by psychological capital and moderated by gender, so that female owners were found less likely to use external support for capability development than men. These findings are explained by women's traditional responsibility in FB of protecting the family from external circumstances. Nevertheless, both women and men orchestrated external support, due to the higher psychological capital of FB, to develop capabilities that respond to pandemic-related market needs.Originality/valueThis study explores and demonstrates the unique navigation of FB owners during crises, and the role of the owner's gender in pursuing capability development. The study's value is in interconnecting external and internal perspectives while probing FB during crises. Implications for the ecosystem's conduct toward FB are discussed.

Assessing the AI-CRM technology capability for sustaining family businesses in times of crisis: the moderating role of strategic intent

PurposeThis study assesses the capability of artificial intelligence integrated customer relationship management (AI-CRM) technology for sustaining family businesses in times of crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The study also investigates the moderating role of strategic intent in sustaining family businesses in times of crisis.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used dynamic capability view theory and related literature on family business and technology adoption to develop a conceptual model. This model has been validated using the structural equation modeling technique considering 332 usable responses from people of India involved in family businesses and technology adoption. The study also uses multigroup analysis to examine the moderating role of strategic intent.FindingsThe study finds that adoption of AI-CRM technology significantly and positively impacts dynamic capabilities of the family businesses, such as sensing, seizing and transforming capabilities, which in turn positively and significantly influences their sustainability during crises. The study also highlights the significant moderating impact of strategic intent for sustaining family business firms in uncertain times.Practical implicationsThis study has highlighted the importance for family businesses to adopt AI-CRM technology and its influence on their dynamic capabilities. The study also provides important inputs to the management of family businesses regarding adoption of new technologies and their significance during crises. The study also documents that strategic intent could help family businesses to survive during such times. The study is conducted in India and thus cannot be generalized.Originality/valueThis study table is unique in that it investigates the influence of AI-CRM technology and the moderating role of strategic intent on family business sustainability in times of crisis. Moreover, the proposed theoretical model is a unique model with explanative power of 71%.

For the people by the people: The case of De Dietrich stewardship

While the coronavirus has exposed the importance of humane-centered entrepreneurship, some family businesses put their stakeholders at the center of their activities over generations. In this article, I elaborate how the De Dietrich family included a humane-centered stewardship mindset in the family firm's activities and development over generations. I reviewed the family's history through the lens of stewardship. First, I briefly outline the history of the De Dietrich family and review stewardship. Describing the research approach and method, I explore the stance on stewardship of the family firm, surviving through several crises. The results show that family businesses with a humane-centered focus in their stewardship mindset are more resilient when it comes to disruptive contextual situations and exhibit a long-term performance over time. © 2022 International Council for Small Business.

Family Business Resilience: The Importance of Owner-Manager's Relational Resilience in Crisis Response Strategies

The COVID19 pandemic has disclosed the compelling necessity for businesses to develop and maintain a high resilience to survive the constantly changing environment they operate in and the rising number of crises they face. Our study sheds light on the resilience of owner-managed family businesses, with a special focus on different levels within and beyond the organization, by analyzing digitalization efforts as one form of strategic response to a crisis. More precisely, building on an extensive explorative multiple case study, we explore how and why ownermanaged family businesses differ regarding their resilience and the implications this has for their crisis management. We contribute both to the literature on resilience and to research on family business strategies by showing differences in crisis response related to different levels of family business resilience and the special role of the owner-manager. © 2022: Matti Schulze, Jana Bövers.

Managerial capabilities and strategic renewal in family firms in crisis situations: The moderating role of the founding generation

This study examines whether founding generation managed family firms are capable of responding proactively to the COVID-19 disruption via firm renewal. We used a unique global COVID-19 crisis specific survey dataset comprising of 2,130 family firm observations. Our findings indicate that in comparison to the later generations, founding generation-managed family firms only do better at strategic renewal as a response to the crisis when they have sufficient managerial capabilities. Our study recommends that family businesses, especially those managed by the founding generations should emphasize managerial capabilities rather than merely focusing on socioemotional wealth (SEW) when deciding on crisis coping strategies. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Digitalization and entrepreneurial firms' resilience to pandemic crises: Evidence from COVID-19 and the German Mittelstand.

While stressing the relevance of context, the organizational resilience literature has so far not extensively examined resilience in times of healthcare crises such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Parasite Stress Theory of Values suggests that such pandemic crises have detrimental impacts on entrepreneurial activity due to social distancing and its effects on interaction, collaboration, and innovation. However, alternatives to personal contact now available thanks to digitalization, have not yet been examined. We expect entrepreneurial firms with more digitalized business models to show higher resilience to pandemic crises, especially those highly affected by globalization and more for non-family businesses than for family businesses. Based on a survey of German Mittelstand firms in the midst of the crisis induced by COVID-19, our findings broadly support our expectations and thus help qualify the Parasite Stress Theory of Values and contribute to a better understanding of organizational resilience in times of pandemic crises.

Lessons from family firms: the use of flexible work arrangements and its consequences

Ongoing trends towards more flexible work arrangements (FWA) have been accelerated by the Covid-19 crisis. Whilst research has shown the overall benefits FWA can have, limited research has explored whether use and benefits of FWA are equal across differentiated organisational contexts and genders. We suggest that individuals working in their family's business face less organizational constraints that typically hinder employees from taking advantage of FWA. It could be suggested that these workers may make higher use of FWA than individuals in regular employment because of their entrepreneurial status and nepotistic privileges. Consequently, the aim of this paper is to explore if family members working in their family's business, work under favourable boundary conditions which enable them to more freely make use of and benefit from FWAs. Utilising representative data from the German Family Panel (pairfam), our comparative analysis based on propensity score matching, suggests that family members working in their family's business (N = 337) do make greater use of FWA than those in regular employment. Counter to common assumptions, the findings reveal that FWA leads to higher workloads for owner-managers but not for family employees. Furthermore, families working in their business show no differences in how they divide household tasks compared to regular employed families–yet they perceive that division to be fairer. This study extends knowledge by introducing family ownership and kinship ties as important boundary conditions to existing theories on FWA, such as life-course theory. It also provides new insights into the commonly assumed consequences of FWA use. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.

Challenges and Perspectives of the Furniture Market in Brazil

Traditionally the furniture market in Brazil is owned by family businesses and of national origin, with few exceptions. Based on this premise and the high demand promoted, especially in the Covid-19 pandemic, the market has adapted to the growing demand for residential furniture. Therefore, a conceptual restructuring needs to be carried out due to the great variability of products in the same factory, driven by the target audience, which goes beyond the traditional concepts of factory standardization and enables a new way of thinking according to the demand for products offered by catalog and/or bespoke. In addition, as they are family businesses, there is an inherent risk of closing activities due to the lack of family motivation of the following generations linked to the lack of knowledge to update manufacturing processes. This article concludes that the variability of products offered in each factory is a high option. New concepts must be adopted from handcrafted to manual transition. And, with positional and functional factory configurations, ensuring high efficiency and quality concerning the degree of difficulty, associated with the characteristics of furniture dealerships. To get success, the companies must be directed towards the sustainable production chain to the companies involved. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Family Businesses and Their Transition to Industry 4.0: Human Resource Perspectives From Bangladesh

Industry 4.0 (I4.0) is the new paradigm shift impacting businesses today. This study explores the state of Bangladeshi family businesses in adapting to I4.0 using a qualitative research methodology. Top management personnel were interviewed to capture their insights on transitioning to I4.0. The thematic analysis revealed four themes, current state of the businesses, challenges faced, pandemic impact on human resources, and future plans. Findings indicate high awareness and greater adoption of digital practices with COVID-19 acting as a catalyst. Although training is emphasized, there is a lack of focus on both career and general counselling, which may prove to be detrimental in the future. The study takes a resource-based view to find the bundle of resources acting as conditions for the family firms to evolve into the I4.0, thereby making a practical contribution to understanding the role of family businesses in implementing I4.0 policies to enrich their human resource competencies and leverage the benefits of I4.0.

Family businesses in tourism - the use of digital technologies in times of uncertainty and crisis

Purpose The main purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of digital technologies on the promotion of tourist offer from the perspective of family businesses. The paper tries to provide a better understanding of the factors that determine the use of digital technologies in the family tourism business, both in the modern digital world and in times of uncertainty and crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach The survey method was used in the realization of the research. Data were collected using a stratified random sample of 86 tourism providers in Montenegro and analyzed by using SEM models, logistic regression and descriptive statistics. Findings The results showed that the demographic characteristics of the respondents were the least important factors in the analysis, while factors that significantly affected the use of digital technologies in Montenegrin tourism included the nature of future tourism trends perceived by respondents, crisis and uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, participants' perceptions, attitudes and understanding of the specificities of digital technologies and benefits they offer to tourists, perceived from the perspective of the family business representative. Furthermore, the results of logistic regression revealed that pandemic had stronger consequences on micro and small enterprises, compared to those imposed on medium-sized firms. These impacts relate to changes in organization and redesign of workflows, altered communication from traditional to digital and increased importance of business innovations. On the other hand, the increased significance of integration of marketing channels for multiple target segments, as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, was stronger pronounced in medium-sized businesses compared to micro and small ones. Originality/value The results obtained may serve the holders of the tourist offer, managers and decision-makers when making decisions on the imposition of digital technologies in tourism, in order to secure global reach business, multi-channel tourist interaction, cost-saving and being ahead of competitors. This enables an integrated analysis that forms the basis for further creation of tourism and marketing policies at the individual and collective level to attract tourists and strengthen Montenegro's competitiveness as a destination.

Evidence of the fractal market hypothesis in European industry sectors with the use of bootstrapped wavelet leaders singularity spectrum analysis

The main purpose of this paper is to examine the Fractal Market Hypothesis (FMH) on family business, sustainability, shariah, green, technology, and global (all stocks) markets in European zone. By using the method of bootstrapped wavelet leaders, we found that there is strong evidence in favour of the FMH. Specifically, the analyses of singularity spectrums show evidence that family business, sustainability, technology and global markets exhibit large multifractality during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the period prior to the pandemic. Hence, these markets became more unpredictable during the pandemic. In contrary, we found strong evidence that the green market exhibits large multifractality before the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the period during the pandemic. Thus, green market became more predictable during the pandemic compared to the period pre-pandemic period. Our findings show that in one hand the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly increased complexity in family business, sustainability, technology and global markets. On the other hand, the pandemic reduced complexity in the green market. We conclude that the green stocks traded in European zone may offer a significant opportunity for hedging portfolios during times of crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic.