Strategic Management in Family Businesses

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My thanks go out to all who have helped me complete this study and with whom this project may have not been possible. In particular, my gratitude goes out to friends, facilitator and family for extensive and helpful comments on early drafts. I am also deeply indebted to the authors who have shared my interest and preceded me. Their works provided me with a host of information to learn from and build upon, also served as examples to emulate.

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DECLARATION

I, (Your name), would like to declare that all contents included in this thesis/dissertation stand for my individual work without any aid, & this thesis/dissertation has not been submitted for any examination at academic as well as professional level previously. It is also representing my very own views & not essentially which are associated with university.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSii

DECLARATIONiii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION1

Background1

Rationale2

Purpose of the study3

Significance of the study4

Problem statement4

Research Questions5

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW6

Family businesses and strategic leadership6

Successor for family businesses7

Intergenerational Succession and Family Firms8

Impetus for Change: Discrepancies in the Family-Business Relationship10

Factors Which Shape Development of the Family-Business Relationship11

Conflict in family firms12

Organizational conflict and its dimensionality13

Business requirements14

Family constraints14

How discrepancies arise15

Adjustment of the Family-Business Relationship16

Strategic Planning17

Process of Strategic Planning18

Theories of Strategic Planning20

Goals and Objectives of Strategic Planning20

Strategic Planning for Family business Partnership21

REFERENCES24

APPENDICES31

Questionnaire31

Ethics Approval Form - Students32

Changes to ethics permission37

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Background

The strategic planning is an important topic that has been discussed among the researchers for long time. The strategic planning is the process of envisaging the future position of company according to the vision of the company's owner (Cowling 2001, 167). The goals and objectives set in this regard are of utmost importance as these are the means of deriving the company to high position. Thus, the strategic planning is the process of planning and setting the goals and objectives that helps the companies in achieving higher position in the future (Collins-Dodd 2004, 395).

Serious studies in social sciences begin with a debate about definitions. Family business studies have not been an exception to this phenomenon. Danes (2007) asks the question about what defines a family business. There have been many definitions, and most of them have revolved around ownership, control and sometimes expectation or realization of succession (Danes 2007, 1058).

Enlsey (2005) define family business as those businesses which are owned and managed by the family while Ahl (2006) argue that family business is as family business does (Cliff 2003, 573). They define a family business as “The family business is a business governed and/or managed with the intention to shape and pursue the vision of the business held by a dominant coalition controlled by members of the same family or a small number of families in a manner that is potentially sustainable across generations of the family or families (Ensley 2005, 267).

Rationale

The strategic planning is different from the usual planning that is based on the long term goals. The strategic planning does not involve the long term planning and its goals are based on the current status of ...