IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/vrs/founma/v7y2015i1p121-128n10.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Pushing Or Pulling Of The Business By Family Members: A Study Of Family Businesses In Sri Lanka

Author

Listed:
  • Kuruppuge Ravindra H.

    (Tomas Bata University in Zlin, Faculty of Management and Economics, Czech Republic)

  • Gregar Aleš

    (Tomas Bata University in Zlin, Faculty of Management and Economics, Czech Republic)

Abstract

A number of family business researches affirm benefits of family involvement to the business while some of other studies assure only detriments of family involvement. When comparative studies of family businesses begin to surface on the family involvement in business, there is that irritating question on what effect is brought about by family involvement to the business. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore business advantages and disadvantages generated by family involvement in businesses in Sri Lanka. The present study attempted to address the above knowledge gap, using qualitative research approach and multiple case studies as the strategy of inquiry. Purposive sampling technique was used to select both cases and respondents. Privately held, successfully conducted four family businesses were selected as cases and, existing business owner and one family related manager from each case were taken as respondents. Data was collected mainly via semi-structured, in depth interviews, observations, and secondary documents. Data collection from interviews consisted of 15 interviews with 09 different people from four cases. Before the data analysis, coding and categorization of respondents’ views from interviews helped to identify common patterns and themes from both within the case and across cases. The analysis was carried out in the light of Agency Theory and resulted in a rich understanding of business advantages and disadvantages of family involvement in businesses in Sri Lanka. The findings of this study indicated that the agency cost is created not only on business matters but also on family matters. Further, findings revealed that agency benefit also can be obtained by family business by handling the family matters carefully in line with business matters. Findings of this study clearly indicated that an extension to Agency Theory is required to explain owner agent relationship in family businesses.

Suggested Citation

  • Kuruppuge Ravindra H. & Gregar Aleš, 2015. "Pushing Or Pulling Of The Business By Family Members: A Study Of Family Businesses In Sri Lanka," Foundations of Management, Sciendo, vol. 7(1), pages 121-128, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:vrs:founma:v:7:y:2015:i:1:p:121-128:n:10
    DOI: 10.1515/fman-2015-0030
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/fman-2015-0030
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/fman-2015-0030?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pradeep Dharmadasa, 2014. "Family Ownership and Firm Performance: Further Evidence from Sri Lanka and Japan," International Journal of Asian Business and Information Management (IJABIM), IGI Global, vol. 5(4), pages 34-47, October.
    2. Habbershon, Timothy G. & Williams, Mary & MacMillan, Ian C., 2003. "A unified systems perspective of family firm performance," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 451-465, July.
    3. Tarun Khanna & Yishay Yafeh, 2007. "Business Groups in Emerging Markets: Paragons or Parasites?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 45(2), pages 331-372, June.
    4. Fama, Eugene F & Jensen, Michael C, 1983. "Separation of Ownership and Control," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(2), pages 301-325, June.
    5. Jess H. Chua & Lloyd P. Steier & James J. Chrisman, 2006. "How Family Firms Solve Intra–Family Agency Problems Using Interlocking Directorates: An Extension," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 30(6), pages 777-783, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Katsuhiko Muramiya & Tomomi Takada, 2015. "Cross-Shareholdings and Information Environment," Discussion Papers in Economics and Business 15-20, Osaka University, Graduate School of Economics.
    2. David G. Sirmon & Jean–Luc Arregle & Michael A. Hitt & Justin W. Webb, 2008. "The Role of Family Influence in Firms’ Strategic Responses to Threat of Imitation," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 32(6), pages 979-998, November.
    3. Erick P.C. Chang & James J. Chrisman & Jess H. Chua & Franz W. Kellermanns, 2008. "Regional Economy as a Determinant of the Prevalence of Family Firms in the United States: A Preliminary Report," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 32(3), pages 559-573, May.
    4. James J. Chrisman & Jess H. Chua & Alfredo Massis & Tommaso Minola & Silvio Vismara, 2016. "Management processes and strategy execution in family firms: from “what” to “how”," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 47(3), pages 719-734, October.
    5. Sami Basly & Amira Hammouda, 2020. "Family Businesses and Digital Entrepreneurship Adoption: A Conceptual Model," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 29(2), pages 326-364, September.
    6. Barontini, Roberto & Bozzi, Stefano, 2018. "Family firm heterogeneity and CEO compensation in Continental Europe," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 1-18.
    7. César Camisón & José Antonio Clemente & Sergio Camisón-Haba, 2022. "Asset tangibility, information asymmetries and intangibles as determinants of family firms leverage," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 16(7), pages 2047-2082, October.
    8. Weiping Liu & Haibin Yang & Guangxi Zhang, 2012. "Does family business excel in firm performance? An institution-based view," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 29(4), pages 965-987, December.
    9. Cao, Feng & Li, Sifei & Dai, Ming & Li, Jing, 2023. "Your heart is where your treasure is: Family chairman and tax avoidance in family-controlled firms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    10. Christian Brück & Jonas Ludwig & Anja Schwering, 2018. "The use of value-based management in family firms," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 28(4), pages 383-416, February.
    11. Mazzi, Chiara, 2011. "Family business and financial performance: Current state of knowledge and future research challenges," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 166-181.
    12. Jeoung Yul Lee & Asli M. Colpan & Yeon-Sik Ryu & Tomoki Sekiguchi, 2022. "What do we know about the internationalization of Asian business groups? A systematic review and future research agenda," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 21(5), pages 802-830, November.
    13. Todor S. Lohwasser & Felix Hoch & Franz W. Kellermanns, 2022. "Strength in Stability: A Meta-Analysis of Family Firm Performance Moderated by Institutional Stability and Regime Type," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 46(1), pages 117-158, January.
    14. Wioletta Mierzejewska & Maria Aluchna & Emilia Tomczyk, 2023. "Do coopetition and cohesion of business groups stimulate their innovation performance?," DECISION: Official Journal of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Springer;Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, vol. 50(2), pages 153-168, June.
    15. Limin Geng & Xueyuan Lu & Can Zhang, 2023. "The Theoretical Lineage and Evolutionary Logic of Research on the Environmental Behavior of Family Firms: A Literature Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(6), pages 1-23, March.
    16. Ömer Tuğsal Doruk & Bahadır Ergün, 2023. "Friend or foe? The link between agency cost and financialization in Turkey," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 44(3), pages 1689-1705, April.
    17. Le Breton-Miller, Isabelle & Miller, Danny & Bares, Franck, 2015. "Governance and entrepreneurship in family firms: Agency, behavioral agency and resource-based comparisons," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 58-62.
    18. Najoua Dali & Sana Harbi, 2016. "The Effect of Risk Perception and Cognitive Biases on the Evaluation of Opportunity in Family and Non-Family Entrepreneurs: The Case of Tunisian Entrepreneurs," Journal of Enterprising Culture (JEC), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 24(03), pages 281-312, September.
    19. Kim, Y. & Gao, F.Y., 2013. "Does family involvement increase business performance? Family-longevity goals’ moderating role in Chinese family firms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(2), pages 265-274.
    20. Camelia-Daniela Hategan & Ruxandra-Ioana Curea-Pitorac & Vasile-Petru Hategan, 2019. "The Romanian Family Businesses Philosophy for Performance and Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-22, March.

    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:vrs:founma:v:7:y:2015:i:1:p:121-128:n:10. 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: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.sciendo.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.