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Research
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| Author(s) : Wladimir
Sachs, Michael Carney, Marleen Dieleman |
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Years
of Living Dangerously: Family Firm Advantage
in Hostile Environments |
| Abstract
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| Imperfect
market institutions are common in transitional
and emerging economies. Prevailing ‘stage’
theories of institutional development suggest
that market-based institutions will eventually
emerge to fill voids. However, in many cases
market institutions do not materialize and
business environments remain hostile for long
periods. We argue that family firms possess
attributes that facilitate the generation
and use of social capital that may form the
basis of sustained competitive advantage.
Under hostile conditions family firms with
relatively simple organization structures
may outperform non-family firms with greater
resources and superior techno-economic capabilities.
To illustrate our argument we narrate a case
study of the Indonesian based Salim Group,
a large multi-generation family firm that
continues to prosper in a chronically hostile
business environment. |
| Keywords
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•
family firms
• social capital
• emerging markets
• competitive advantage
• hostile environments
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| Journal
of Business Venturing Special Issue Conference
on Entrepreneurship in Emerging Regions, Hyderabad,
December 13-15. |
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