Our research in this area provides family firms and their managers with consistent and significant guidelines to improve innovation, management and stimulate future growth and performance.

Our research focuses on the goal formulation processes through which individual goals are transformed to shared organisational goals in family businesses.

These decisions are influenced by the power and the discretion of family owners and managers, and by their inherent interests and preferences. Understanding how the power and discretion of family owners and managers influence strategic decision-making is crucial for identifying the drivers of family firms' competitive advantages and performance.

For a succession to be successful, the family’s goals need to known and attained. Our research aims to understand the factors that prevent, or enable, the transfer of ownership and leadership from one family member to another. And the drivers that support successful intra-family successions.

Our research investigates the family and the business as overlapping communities of practice. It suggests the complex process of succession might be informed by understanding the importance of this and the extent of participation in the family business over time.

We often find this is a result of family entrepreneurial teams, groups of related individuals who engage in entrepreneurial activities. Our research investigates what spurs entrepreneurial team membership, for instance trust and strong identity, and how these teams develop particular attitudes of identifying and pursuing opportunities over time.

We aim to fill this gap by providing novel insights on how family influence on a business organisation affects corporate social responsibility.