Strategic Issues in Entrepreneurship and Family Business Research

When considering the percentage of small and medium-sized enterprises, and the number of these that are family businesses, in terms of the worldwide corporate landscape, the fundamental status of these types of enterprises for the wealth of the global economy becomes particularly obvious. The worldwide corporate landscape consists to over 95% of small and medium-sized enterprises, and, on average, to 85% of family businesses. Consequently, economic prosperity can only be preserved if the continued existence and growth of small and medium-sized enterprises and family businesses is ensured and stimulated. Therefore, this doctoral dissertation investigates strategic issues in the field of entrepreneurship and family business research with the objective of providing suggestions and implications on aspects respectively factors by which continued existence can be ensured and/or growth can be promoted. By initially conducting bibliometric analyses in the fields of family business and strategic entrepreneurship research, insightful overviews and understandings regarding the intellectual structure of both fields of research are generated. In fact, the bibliometric studies in each field enabled the identification of research gaps that remain unexplored. The following issues have been chosen to serve the stated objective of the dissertation. While succession within family businesses has been recognized as having a strong impact on the continued existence of those businesses, strategic orientations, such as entrepreneurial orientation or customer orientation, have been found to be facilitators for firm growth. By executing a literature review of psychological aspects relating to family business succession, critical issues that might interfere with the process have been identified. The study emphasizes, that fostering awareness among the individual party(ies) concerned regarding various psychological aspects, such as, for instance, letting the business go, lack of trust, or missing boundaries between family and business, is inevitable for a successful succession, and thereby is essential for the continued existence of family businesses. In addition, two quantitative empirical studies have been carried out investigating the effect of strategic orientations on the performance respectively growth of small and medium-sized enterprises. The results emphasize that entrepreneurial orientation, from a general point of view, facilitates the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises. However, country-specific issues such as cultural or economic factors need to be taken into consideration when providing precise implications. Therefore, depending on the environment, different configurations of the dimensions of an entrepreneurial orientation lead to firm growth. Pursuing various combinations of the entrepreneurial orientation dimensions results in different outcomes, such as, for instance, radical or incremental innovations. Additionally, financial resource availability is a key factor that is positively linked to entrepreneurial orientation, and concomitantly, to the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises. In summary, the present doctoral dissertation highlights valuable implications, based on which the continued existence of family businesses can be ensured respectively the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises can be stimulated. Each study contributes to the progression of the respective field of research, providing valuable insights for both scholars and practitioners.