1. 6. Strategic Management in the Family Business
(c) Thomas Zellweger, 2017

2. What is socioemotional wealth (SEW)?
When do family firms prioritize SEW considerations over financial considerations? And when do these preferences shift?
Are family firms more or less risk averse than nonfamily firms?
What is familiness?
Discuss the typical resource
advantages and disadvantages of
family firms.
(c) Thomas Zellweger, 2017

3. How are family firms unique with regard to resource management?
Discuss examples of how familiness drives or hinders the competitiveness of family firms.
What are the unique features of financial capital provision in family firms?
How are family firms unique with regard to resource management?
Why are family firms so concerned with
CSR?
What image do family firms have in the marketplace?
(c) Thomas Zellweger, 2017

4. property rights and the like)?
If you were an owner of a family firm, how would you exploit the firm’s image as a family business in the marketplace?
Describe the unique strategies of family firms as brand builders and preservers.
How should complying with generally accepted norms of doing business contribute to firm performance? Why should family firms be particularly well-positioned to comply with such norms?
Why are family firms particularly well-positioned to exploit institutional voids (ie inefficiencies in labor and capital markets, the rule of law, protection of
property rights and the like)?
(c) Thomas Zellweger, 2017

5. Why are family firms particularly good at managing these tensions?
Why is the family business group a prominent organizational form in many emerging markets?
What kinds of tensions are particularly prevalent in the management of family firms?
Why are family firms particularly good at managing these tensions?
What are some common paradoxes in the context of family firms?
(c) Thomas Zellweger, 2017

6. Why is it problematic to solve paradoxes in a non-integrative manner (eg by avoiding or adopting one of the aspects of the paradox)?
What is the particular problem with arguments such as ‘We are a business-first family firm’?
How are family firms able to exploit their tradition to come up with innovations?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of family firms with regard to innovation?
(c) Thomas Zellweger, 2017

7. What are some generic business strategies of family firms, and on what family-firm-specific attributes do these strategies build?
Assume that you are asked to develop an integrated family, ownership and business strategy for a family firm. How would you approach this task? Along what processes would you develop this strategy?
(c) Thomas Zellweger, 2017