IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/jfr/ijba11/v4y2013i6p120-133.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Knowledge Creation in Family Businesses and Its Importance for Building and Sustaining Competitive Advantage during and after Succession

Author

Listed:
  • Mojca Duh
  • Marina Letonja

Abstract

The family business¡¯s tacit knowledge, embedded in its founder, and its transmission is found to be important for building and sustaining competitive advantage since this type of knowledge is difficult to trade and imitate, scarce, appropriable and specialized. The purpose of our research was to broadening our understanding of family businesses tacit knowledge and its creation during the succession process by applying the concept of knowledge creation through so called SECI process. The case study-based findings showed that founders and successors find mentoring, internal/individual training, and involving in the meetings with business partners as the most used knowledge creating activities. We suggest that tacit knowledge creation during succession should be placed in broader context of organizational knowledge creation in order to raise the total quality of successor¡¯s knowledge and adding new knowledge thus contributing to building family business¡¯s competitive advantage.

Suggested Citation

  • Mojca Duh & Marina Letonja, 2013. "Knowledge Creation in Family Businesses and Its Importance for Building and Sustaining Competitive Advantage during and after Succession," International Journal of Business Administration, International Journal of Business Administration, Sciedu Press, vol. 4(6), pages 120-133, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:jfr:ijba11:v:4:y:2013:i:6:p:120-133
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciedu.ca/journal/index.php/ijba/article/view/3617/2132
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://www.sciedu.ca/journal/index.php/ijba/article/view/3617
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Filippini, Roberto & Güttel, Wolfgang H. & Nosella, Anna, 2012. "Ambidexterity and the evolution of knowledge management initiatives," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 65(3), pages 317-324.
    2. Louise M. Kelly & Nicholas Athanassiou & William F. Crittenden, 2000. "Founder Centrality and Strategic Behavior in the Family-Owned Firm," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 25(2), pages 27-42, December.
    3. Szulanski, Gabriel, 2000. "The Process of Knowledge Transfer: A Diachronic Analysis of Stickiness," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 9-27, May.
    4. Franz W. Kellermanns & Kimberly A. Eddleston, 2004. "Feuding Families: When Conflict Does a Family Firm Good," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 28(3), pages 209-228, May.
    5. Isabelle Le Breton–Miller & Danny Miller & Lloyd P. Steier, 2004. "Toward an Integrative Model of Effective FOB Succession," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 28(4), pages 305-328, July.
    6. Zahra, Shaker A. & Neubaum, Donald O. & Larraneta, Barbara, 2007. "Knowledge sharing and technological capabilities: The moderating role of family involvement," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 60(10), pages 1070-1079, October.
    7. Miller, Danny & Steier, Lloyd & Le Breton-Miller, Isabelle, 2003. "Lost in time: intergenerational succession, change, and failure in family business," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 513-531, July.
    8. Morris, Michael H. & Williams, Roy O. & Allen, Jeffrey A. & Avila, Ramon A., 1997. "Correlates of success in family business transitions," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 12(5), pages 385-401, September.
    9. Thierry Burger-Helmchen (ed.), 2012. "Entrepreneurship - Gender, Geographies and Social Context," Books, IntechOpen, number 1940, January-J.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nyoni, Thabani, 2019. "Factors affecting succession planning in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Zimbabwe: a case study of Harare," MPRA Paper 91352, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Jahmurataj, Veton & Ramadani, Veland & Bexheti, Abdylmenaf & Rexhepi, Gadaf & Abazi-Alili, Hyrije & Krasniqi, Besnik A., 2023. "Unveiling the determining factors of family business longevity: Evidence from Kosovo," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jan-Philipp Ahrens & Andrea Calabrò & Jolien Huybrechts & Michael Woywode, 2019. "The Enigma of the Family Successor–Firm Performance Relationship: A Methodological Reflection and Reconciliation Attempt," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 43(3), pages 437-474, May.
    2. Boris Rumanko & Zuzana Lušňáková & Monika Moravanská & Mária Šajbidorová, 2021. "Succession as a Risk Process in the Survival of a Family Business—Case of Slovakia," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-20, September.
    3. Hillebrand, Sebastian & Teichert, Thorsten, 2020. "Successor selection in times of continuity and renewal - A discrete choice-experiment," WiSo-HH Working Paper Series 59, University of Hamburg, Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences, WISO Research Laboratory.
    4. Alexandra Bertschi-Michel & Nadine Kammerlander & Vanessa M. Strike, 2020. "Unearthing and Alleviating Emotions in Family Business Successions," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 44(1), pages 81-108, January.
    5. Zybura, Jan & Zybura, Nora & Ahrens, Jan-Philipp & Woywode, Michael, 2021. "Innovation in the post-succession phase of family firms: Family CEO successors and leadership constellations as resources," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 12(2).
    6. Mussolino, Donata & Calabrò, Andrea, 2014. "Paternalistic leadership in family firms: Types and implications for intergenerational succession," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 197-210.
    7. Alexandra Bertschi-Michel & Philipp Sieger & Nadine Kammerlander, 2021. "Succession in family-owned SMEs: the impact of advisors," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(4), pages 1531-1551, April.
    8. Yaaser Mahomed & Vuyokazi Mtembu, 2021. "Business Succession in Indian Family Businesses in South Africa," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 13(3), pages 73-80.
    9. Hossein Samei & Alireza Feyzbakhsh, 2016. "The Effect of Mentoring on Successor Nurturing in Family Businesses," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 25(2), pages 211-231, September.
    10. Vincent Molly & Eddy Laveren & Ann Jorissen, 2012. "Intergenerational Differences in Family Firms: Impact on Capital Structure and Growth Behavior," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 36(4), pages 703-725, July.
    11. Cunningham, James & Seaman, Claire & McGuire, David, 2016. "Knowledge sharing in small family firms: A leadership perspective," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 7(1), pages 34-46.
    12. Lévesque, Moren & Subramanian, Annapoornima M., 2022. "Family firm succession through the lens of technology intelligence," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 13(2).
    13. Mattias Nordqvist & Karl Wennberg & Massimo Bau’ & Karin Hellerstedt, 2013. "An entrepreneurial process perspective on succession in family firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(4), pages 1087-1122, May.
    14. Simone Chlosta & Holger Patzelt & Sabine Klein & Christian Dormann, 2012. "Parental role models and the decision to become self-employed: The moderating effect of personality," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 38(1), pages 121-138, January.
    15. Michel, Alexandra & Kammerlander, Nadine, 2015. "Trusted advisors in a family business's succession-planning process—An agency perspective," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 45-57.
    16. Alessandro Cirillo & Luca Pennacchio & Maria Rosaria Carillo & Mauro Romano, 2021. "The antecedents of entrepreneurial risk-taking in private family firms: CEO seasons and contingency factors," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(4), pages 1571-1590, April.
    17. Ahrens, Jan-Philipp & Landmann, Andreas & Woywode, Michael, 2015. "Gender preferences in the CEO successions of family firms: Family characteristics and human capital of the successor," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 6(2), pages 86-103.
    18. Rodrigo Basco & Andrea Calabrò, 2017. "“Whom do I want to be the next CEO?” Desirable successor attributes in family firms," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 87(4), pages 487-509, May.
    19. Yan Ling & Franz W. Kellermanns, 2010. "The Effects of Family Firm Specific Sources of TMT Diversity: The Moderating Role of Information Exchange Frequency," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(2), pages 322-344, March.
    20. Sudhir Kumar Jain & Nalin Jain, 2014. "Business Succession Planning in Indian MSM-FOBEs: A Study Based on Managerial-Role Employees," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 15(3), pages 517-530, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:jfr:ijba11:v:4:y:2013:i:6:p:120-133. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Jenny Zhang (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://ijba.sciedupress.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.