Family Firms and Business Families in Cross-Cultural Perspective : Bringing Anthropology Back In

This edited volume provides an anthropological study of family businesses and business families. In previous research on family firms and business families, the comparative cross-cultural approach of anthropology has so far received little attention. As a result, family firms and business families are too often analyzed without considering cultural and kinship differences adequately. Similarly, although the topics of kinship and the economy are central to anthropological analysis, research on family firms and business families has been a marginal topic only that lacks in-depth discussions within anthropology. This volume breaks the mold by offering new empirical and theoretical insights into discussion about business families and family firms from a comparative cross-cultural perspective. It first addresses how the business family can be defined in different cultures and how kinship becomes understandable as a process and through ‘doing family’. In this, the book provides a systematic comparison of the connections between family, kinship and economic activity in different cultures, whereas many of the previous studies have concentrated on only one or a few regions or cultures. It also shows the complexities and challenges when grounding the analysis of economic activity and entrepreneurship in cultural context. Preface 5 Contents 8 Notes on Contributors 11 Part I: Introduction 17 Chapter 1: An Introduction to Family Firms and Business Families from the Anthropological Perspective: Concepts, Reflections and Ethnographic Observations 18 1 Introduction 18 2 An Anthropological Approach to Family Firms and Business Families 21 2.1 Doing Kinship, Relatedness, Kinning and Doing Family 21 2.2 The Business Family and the Kinship Enterprise 23 2.3 Business Families in Cultural Contexts 24 3 Overview of the Chapters 28 4 Conclusion 31 References 32 Part II: A Processual Understanding of Kinship 38 Chapter 2: How ‘Enduring Family Bonds’ Are Made: Insights from Fulɓe Kinship Enterprises in Northern Benin 39 1 Introduction 39 1.1 Fulɓe Family Economies as ‘Kinship Enterprises’ 41 1.2 Perspectives on ‘Family’ and ‘Kinship’ 44 2 Economic Projects: Pastoral Systems of Production 47 3 Social Projects in Fulɓe Kinship Enterprises 50 4 How ‘Enduring Family Bonds’ Are Made 51 4.1 Kinning Rituals at Birth 51 4.2 Marrying Sons and Daughters off: Rationalities and Desires 53 4.3 Caring for Cattle and People 57 4.4 Transferring Rights over Cattle and Milk 59 5 Conclusion 62 References 64 Chapter 3: Producing and Reproducing the Business Family Across Generations: The Importance of Narratives in German Business Families 70 1 Introduction 70 2 The Research and Its Methodology 73 3 Narratives and Family Business 74 3.1 The Narrative Approach 74 3.2 The Role of Narratives in Family Business 76 4 Empirical Examples of Narratives in Family Business 78 4.1 Case 1: Survival and Succession: Flexibility, Cooperation, Continuity and Change 79 4.2 Case 2: The Cleverness of the Family and its Members 84 5 Conclusion 87 References 89 Part III: Family Business after the End of Socialism 94 Chapter 4: Power, Family and Business: Practices of Oligarchic Economy in Late Soviet and Post-Soviet Armenia (Before 2018) 95 1 Introduction 95 2 Social and Cultural Specifics of Economy and Kinship in Late Soviet and Early Post-Soviet Armenia (Before 2018) 100 3 ‘Family Business Empires’ in the Post-Soviet Period of 2000–2018 108 4 Gender Issues and Matrimonial Practices in Oligarchic Families and Networks 116 4.1 Matrimonial Practices of Oligarchs: ‘The Oligarch’s Wedding’ 116 4.2 Business Empires and Women: ‘Muk’s Casus’ 118 5 Conclusion 121 References 122 Chapter 5: Business as a Gift: Family Entrepreneurship and the Ambiguities of Sharing 126 1 Introduction 126 2 A Short History of Family and Gender Relations in (Post-)Soviet Russia 131 3 Gifts, Temporalities of Exchange and Politics of Value 134 4 A Job as a Gift 136 5 Property Exchanges 141 6 A Gift as an Informal Contract 145 7 Balancing Sharing and Market Risks 149 8 Conclusion 153 References 155 Part IV: The Contet of Family Business 157 Chapter 6: Rethinking Confucianism: Family Business and the Ritual Construction of the ‘Family’ in Japan and China 158 1 Introduction: Anthropology in Approaches of East Asian Area Studies to Family Business 158 2 The Confucianism Conundrum in Cross-Cultural Management 160 3 Ritual Theory and Family Business 163 3.1 East Asian Conceptions of Ritual as a Theory of Ritual 164 3.2 The Ritual Construction of Family Business 166 4 Japan: Enacting the Family Business as a Family Corporation by Means of Ritual 168 5 China: Enacting the Family Business as Family Enterprise by Means of Ritual 174 6 Conclusion 178 References 180 Chapter 7: Kinship, Godparenthood and Urban Estates in the Bolivian Andes: The Cultural Production of Business Families 188 1 Introduction 188 2 Market Institutions, Firms and Urban Estates 190 3 Kinship Relationships and Mutuality in the Market 194 3.1 Andean Kinship 195 3.2 Mutual Obligations in the Market 196 3.3 Economic Differences Among Siblings 197 4 Ritual Kinship 199 5 Conclusion 200 References 202 Chapter 8: Anthropology of Family and Family Businesses Is Emic All the Way 205 1 Introduction 206 2 An Anthropological Idea of Culture 208 3 Family in Kinship Order 210 4 Japanese Kinship 212 5 The Japanese Ie and the Japanese Kaisha (Company) 219 5.1 The Kaisha as the Pragmatic Objectification of the Ie 220 6 Conclusion 224 References 225 Part V: Family Business and Historical Change 228 Chapter 9: The Legacy of the Past in Business Families of Northern Italy 229 1 Introduction 229 2 The Importance of Kin Ties 232 3 Family Work Contribution 237 4 Land Fragmentation 240 5 Catholic Cooperativism 243 6 Conclusion 246 References 247 Chapter 10: Family Values, Paprika Production and E.U. Integration: An Ethnography of a Kinship Enterprise in Contemporary Hungary 250 1 Introduction 250 2 Focusing on a Family Business and a Family History: Between the City and the Countryside 253 3 Becoming a Manager and Entrepreneur: The Historical Roots of a Family Business 255 4 Privatization: Becoming a Family Business 261 5 Paprika Powder Production 263 6 The Family Business’s Accession to the European Union 266 7 Generational Change 271 8 Conclusion 273 References 275 Chapter 11: The Other Side of Succession Issues: How the Decline of Some Family Businesses Allows for the Consolidation of Others 277 1 Introduction 277 2 The ‘Sweet’ Origin of Mauritian History—and Family Firms 280 3 Between Failed and Successful Succession: Franco-Mauritian Conglomerates 284 3.1 Building Upon the Succession and Financial Troubles of Other Family Firms 287 3.2 Disentangling Shared Investments 290 4 Conclusion 293 References 294 Part VI: Concluding Remarks 297 Chapter 12: Conclusion 298 References 304 Chapter 13: Afterword 308 References 313 Index 314