0000000000296359

AUTHOR

Anne Laakkonen

Construction of the entrepreneurial identity in the family business context : a cross-cultural study

This study focuses on entrepreneurial identity constructions in the family business context through a cross-cultural lens. The study is interdisciplinary by nature drawing from and contributing to theories of identity, entrepreneurship, and family business. It aims at contributing to the added understanding of how family business entrepreneurs construe their entrepreneurial identities. The methodology of this study is based on the interpretive approach utilizing the principles of hermeneutics. The empirical materials for it were gathered through thematic research interviews from two different business cultural groups representing two different generations of family business entrepreneurs; t…

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Entrepreneurial leadership and familiness as resources for strategic entrepreneurship

PurposeThis paper seeks to investigate how familiness and entrepreneurial leadership are related to each other in family firms. Familiness and entrepreneurial leadership are viewed as resources for strategic entrepreneurship. The aim of the paper is to shed light on familiness in three family firms and contribute to the field's growing body of work.Design/methodology/approachThe paper employs a case study method. The interviewees were interviewed by theme questions and secondary information was gathered to strengthen the empirical section. Qualitative interpretation of empirical data was used.FindingsThe findings demonstrate the variety of familiness and entrepreneurial leadership within fa…

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Students’ Perceptions of Family Entrepreneurship – A Study on Family Business Academic Education

L’objectif de cette recherche est d’analyser les points de vue d’étudiants universitaires envers la condition des entrepreneurs. Le fond théorique analyse l’interaction entre l’entreprise familiale, le propriétaireship, et l’éducation sur la condition des entrepreneurs. 211 étudiants de l’Université de Jyväskylä ont participé à cette étude pendant le cours fondamental de Basic business studies appelé “Introduction to Entrepreneurship and Business Operations” en septembre 2007. 143 d’entre eux ont écrit un essai d’une page, soit en finnois soit en anglais, sur les entreprises familiales et les propriétaires familiales. Les étudiants ont écrit sur le phénomène avec leurs propres mots. Les rés…

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Evolutionary selection and variation in family businesses

PurposeThis qualitative study attempts to understand what kinds of evolutionary selection and variation occur in family businesses during the preparation of a managerial and ownership succession.Design/methodology/approachThe study was conducted by interviewing members of one family business in Louisiana, USA and one in Finland in order to contribute to the understanding of succession preparation in small family businesses with two generations. Evolutionary economics was adapted for this interdisciplinary study to explain evolutionary changes in a family business succession.FindingsThe findings indicate that both selection and variation can take place through different routes during the pre…

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In search of family business continuity: the case of transgenerational family entrepreneurship

This qualitative case study analyses continuity of transgenerational entrepreneurship in the family business. Transgenerational entrepreneurship is based on multigenerational, and in this particular firm, on the founder and next generation, business activities in the same family business. Methodologically, the data was collected by interviewing members of two generations of Imagon Ltd.; the founder, and his sons. Imagon Ltd. shows signs of transgenerational continuity. It did not start off that way in the founder’s mind; his desire was just to work for himself and fulfil his own visions. It was only much later that the prospect of defining his company as a family business entered the pictur…

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