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- Akhter, Naveed
(author)
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Family business portfolios : Enduring entrepreneurship and exit strategies
- 2016
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This dissertation examines how family business portfolios endure across time and investigates the entrepreneurial strategies that they engage in. The goal of this dissertation is addressed through five appended papers in which I have argued for the importance of business families owning multiple firms, that is, portfolio entrepreneurship. Portfolio entrepreneurship plays a central role in economic development as it is a prevalent phenomenon in developed and emerging economies. However, despite its importance, there is currently very little research on portfolio entrepreneurship, especially in the context of family firms.In so doing, I study nine business families owning multiple businesses in Pakistan. I conducted in-depth interviews with family owners and employees; the interviews were supplemented with other sources of data such as observations and archival material. When studying questions such as how a portfolio is built-up across generations, how and why business families exit and, when they exit, which businesses they choose to exit from, I draw on insights from the literature on portfolio entrepreneurship, business exit, family firms, socioemotional wealth, sensemaking, compassion and social identity theory in the five papers.The dissertation addresses the calls for studies on portfolio entrepreneurship in the context of family firms by examining the process through which a portfolio is constructed by studying performance and exit related issues. In other words, it examines both the growth and the contraction of portfolios. The study offers several contributions. First, it contributes to studies on enduring entrepreneurship by investigating how business families last across time despite encountering difficult situations and declining business. Second, the study contributes to the portfolio entrepreneurship literature by elucidating how portfolios are built across generations and the roles of both growth and contractions while addressing processual and contextual issues.Third, the study contributes to the business exit literature by looking at the exit process in a family business context and exploring multiple exits. This isunique, as it is, to the best of my knowledge, the first study on business exits looking at multiple exit in the context of family firms. Fourth, the study also contributes to the literature on family firms by exploring how and why business families refrain from exiting from their core legacy business and how their emotions influence the exit process.Finally, the study contributes to context-related issues. The study adds to the literature on contextualization and addresses the call for more context-specific studies in entrepreneurship scholarship. This dissertation is focused on context-based factors considering the spatial and social context, where the former has been undertaken by taking an emerging economy and country context as the setting, while the latter refers to the relational and emotional ties within family firms. In addition to its theoretical contributions, this dissertation has important implications for practice. The dissertation brings to the fore some promising and unique ways in which entrepreneurship endures across time and context through the transgenerational transmission of entrepreneurship and insights into how business families behave in a declining business situation. Additionally, this study offers insights for family owners and managers on how to address the dilemma of continued entrepreneurship, that is, how to encourage and foster enduring entrepreneurship in organizations, in particular in the context of family firms.
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- Arshad, Nadia, et al.
(author)
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Sustainable crowdfunding for subsistence entrepreneurship
- 2020
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In: Entrepreneurship and the community. - Cham : Springer. - 9783030236038 - 9783030236045 ; , s. 49-62
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Book chapter (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Crowdfunding research to date has mainly focused on the nature and dynamics characterizing platforms containing creative and innovative ideas, while less attention has been given to subsistence entrepreneurship which centers on social, environmental, and economic concerns. This chapter develops a conceptual framework to examine the sustainable crowdfunding process supporting subsistence entrepreneurship, and then using the framework, the case illustration of Kiva is presented to describe how sustainable crowdfunding facilitates the development of ventures created to alleviate poverty and promote sustainability. The proposed framework combines elements of crowdfunding with aspects of sustainability, as well as subsistence entrepreneurship. Subsistence entrepreneurship includes the actions, activities, and processes undertaken by individuals living in the bottom of the pyramid to promoting sustainability. Crowdfunding acts as a key tool to attract financial means relevant for subsistence entrepreneurship. The chapter concludes with a discussion of key implications that arise from this research.
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- Bengt, Johannison, et al.
(author)
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The institutional embeddedness of local inter-firm networks : a leverage for business creation
- 2002
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In: Entrepreneurship and Regional Development. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0898-5626 .- 1464-5114. ; 14, s. 297-316
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- There is an increasing concern for the notion of ‘embeddedness’ of economic activity; yet the conceptualization of the concept and its operationalization remain underdeveloped. First, embeddedness may concern, on the one hand, the structure of relations that tie economic actors together (structural embeddedness) and, on the other hand, the social strands supplementing economic strands in each relation (substantive embeddedness). In this paper, a network framework is outlined which proposes several layers or ‘orders’ of embeddedness. Focusing on small firms, the point of departure is individual exchange relationships as personal ties combining economic and social concerns. First-order embeddedness concerns the localized business networks created by combining these dyadic relations. Second-order embeddedness is achieved when considering also the memberships of business persons in economic and social local institutions while third-order embeddedness concerns the special cases where these institutions bridge gaps between firms. The network model is operationalized and applied to a small Swedish industrial (furniture) community, its firms and economic/social institutions. The findings generally support the applicability of the model and demonstrate the supplementarity of different layers/orders of embeddedness. Further research challenges are deduced and implications for practitioners are provided.
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- Bengt, Johannison, et al.
(author)
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Theoretical and methodological challenges bridging firm strategies and contextual networking
- 2002
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In: International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation. - : SAGE Publications. - 1465-7503 .- 2043-6882. ; 3:3, s. 165-174
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- There is an increasing concern for, on the one hand, networked business strategies and, on the other, the competitiveness of localized small-firm clusters. This paper first reviews four different strategy frameworks - the resource-based organization, the industrial organization, the virtual organization and the industrial district - from a network perspective. Eleven generic dimensions of such strategic frameworks are generated and operationalized. Then graph analysis is used to map a small business community in which furniture manufacturing and retail make up the core industry sectors. Three centrally positioned firms in the local production networks are identified and interviewed face-to-face. The owner-managers were asked to map their enactment of business strategy according to the operationalized frameworks. The findings demonstrate that no single strategic framework can make the firms' strategic conduct intelligible. The use of advanced information technology ensures that all three firms align to features associated with virtual organizing. The balanced use of strategies is assumed to add to the competitiveness of firms and local business systems. The paper concludes with suggestions for further research and advice for practitioners.
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- Blombäck, Anna, 1975-, et al.
(author)
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Exploring logics in corporate brand identity formation – the case of family business
- 2010
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Reports (pop. science, debate, etc.)abstract
- Purpose: The aim of this paper is to understand the logics at work when companies establish their corporate brand identities. Essential to this quest is to understand the reasoning of which corporate traits to communicate. As a case in point we target firms that make reference to being a “family business” on their websites and investigate their decision to include this feature in corporate brand identity. Design/methodology/approach: Interviews are made with 14 CEOs in 12 companies. Through discourse analysis, we identify three logics for the selection of corporate brand identity features; the habit, organic and intended logics. On account of these findings, we develop a three logics model of corporate brand identity formation; proposing differences between arbitrary, emergent and strategic processes. Findings: Our results highlight how decisions that define corporate brand identity are not necessarily a consequence of rigorous marketing planning, but are sometimes made without concern for marketing matters. Research limitations/implications: The current research is limited in terms of the sample size and geographic origin. The sample was chosen to vary in size and industry but primarily reflects small and medium-sized enterprises, all in a Swedish context. The focus on family business as facet of corporate brand identity is another limitation. Given the inescapable connection of the feature family business to individuals in the firm, it could imply a somewhat special case. Originality/value: Research on corporate brand identity is still largely conceptual. Based on empirical exploration, our paper reveals that varying logics lead to corporate brand identity formation. We introduce a theoretical model to guide further research.
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- Blombäck, Anna, et al.
(author)
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Exploring the logics of corporate brand identity formation
- 2012
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In: Corporate Communications. An International Journal. - : Emerald. - 1356-3289 .- 1758-6046. ; 17:1, s. 7-28
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore and analyze the logics at work when companies decide what corporate features to communicate; which eventually also accounts for their corporate brands identities. Design/methodology/approach: As a case in point, we focus on the concept “family business” and investigate the rationale among companies to make particular reference to being such a company on their websites – a decision we interpret as part of the corporate brand identity formation. Interviews are made with 14 CEOs in 12 small and medium-sized family enterprises in a Swedish context. We employ a discourse analysis to distinguish patterns of corporate feature selection. Findings: Our results highlight how decisions that define corporate brand identity are not necessarily a consequence of rigorous marketing planning, but are sometimes made without concern for marketing matters. We identify three logics for the selection and formation of corporate brand identity features; the habit, organic and intended logics. On account of these findings, we develop a three logics model of corporate brand identity formation; proposing differences between intuitive, emergent and strategic processes. In the intuitive process, managers construct brand identity based on tradition, instinctive beliefs and self perception. In the emergent process, the decision surfaces from active interplay between self-perception among managers and the company’s identity. In the strategic process, the decision is a product of an explicit brand strategy with focus on corporate communications.Research limitations/implications: The sample size is small. No large firms are included. We focus on one corporate feature, namely, being family business. Originality/value: Research on corporate brand identity is still largely conceptual. Drawing on empirical findings, this paper contributes to available theory and to practical insight. Key words: Corporate brand management, corporate brand identity, marketing communications, family business.
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