Why Can’t a Family Business Be More Like a Nonfamily Business? Modes of Professionalization in Family Firms

Authors

Alex Stewart, Marquette UniversityFollow
Michael A. Hitt, Texas A & M University - College StationFollow

Document Type

Article

Language

eng

Format of Original

29 p.

Publication Date

3-2012

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Source Publication

Family Business Review

Source ISSN

0894-4865

Original Item ID

DOI: 10.1177/0894486511421665

Abstract

The authors survey arguments that family firms should behave more like nonfamily firms and “professionalize.” Despite the apparent advantages of this transition, many family firms fail to do so or do so only partially. The authors reflect on why this might be so, and the range of possible modes of professionalization. They derive six ideal types: (a) minimally professional family firms; (b) wealth dispensing, private family firms; (c) entrepreneurially operated family firms; (d) entrepreneurial family business groups; (e) pseudoprofessional, public family firms; and (f) hybrid professional family firms. The authors conclude with suggestions for further research that is attentive to such variation.

Comments

Accepted version. Family Business Review, Vol. 25, No. 1 (March 2012): 58-86. DOI. © 2012 SAGE Publications. Used with permission.

Recommended Citation

Stewart, Alex and Hitt, Michael A., "Why Can’t a Family Business Be More Like a Nonfamily Business? Modes of Professionalization in Family Firms" (2012). Management Faculty Research and Publications. 155.
https://epublications.marquette.edu/mgmt_fac/155