Economic, Non-Economic and Critical Factors for the Sustainability of Family Firms

• Main Authors: Juan Herrera, Carlos de las Heras-Rosas
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-10-01
• Series: Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market and Complexity
• Subjects: family firms; sustainability; socioemotional-wealth; intergenerational succession; open innovation
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2199-8531/6/4/119

Family firms make a significant contribution to wealth creation. Despite the proliferation of large corporations, the model remains in place. The peculiarities of the company-family relationship mean that these organizations are managed in a particular way and differently from those with a non-family composition. In recent decades, the literature on family firms has been considerable, but research related to the sustainability of this type of business is in the development phase and shows little maturity. This paper analyses the content of publications that set the trend in research on the sustainability of family firms. Bibliometric techniques are used to obtain the sample (135 docs.) of journals indexed in Web of Science (WoS) between the dates 2003 and 2019. The results suggest that the interest in sustainability in family firms is still relatively recent, barely a decade old. The most central theme has been Socioemotional-Wealth. The analysis of content points mainly to the process of intergenerational succession as a critical factor. As non-economic aspects, those that promote sustainability through the effects of emotional wealth, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Human Resources practices stand out. Finally, the economic aspects that would affect sustainability are related to performance and have to do with the change of organizational culture adapted to business orientation, intergenerational knowledge transfer, investment in innovation, or internationalization strategies. This work sheds light on what aspects are being researched in relation to sustainability in family firms and can serve as guidance for future work in this field of research, as well as for managers in the decision-making process.