Knowledge and the Family Business: The Governance and Management of Family Firms in the New Knowledge Economy (Innovation, Technology, and Knowledge Management)

Family businesses—the predominant form of business organization around the world—can make numerous, critical contributions to the economy and family well-being in both financial and qualitative terms. But dysfunctional family businesses can be difficult to manage, painful experiences at best, and they can destroy family wealth and personal relationships. This book explores the dynamics of family business management, in the context of constantly changing market conditions and the role that knowledge management plays in strategic planning and adaptation. Integrating the literature from family business, entrepreneurship, industrial psychology, and knowledge management, and with illustrative examples from a variety of enterprises, the authors address such topics as: •__How family businesses can compete in the new knowledge economy__ •__How to manage a family business when knowledge is its main asset__ •__How to transfer knowledge (and how to keep it alive) through family generations__ Within this framework, the authors argue that effective resource management—especially intangible resources—is central to enabling a family-run organization to maintain a sustainable competitive advantage over time. They note that families often develop systemic, intuitive, or tacit knowledge that transcends rational decision making and needs to be recognized and nurtured as a distinctive asset. The authors demonstrate that trans-generational value is achieved when the family firm innovates and adapts itself to changing external and internal conditions. This kind of entrepreneurial performance requires dynamic capabilities and processes designed to acquire, exchange, combine and even shed knowledge and practices; and, in turn, dynamic capabilities result from mechanisms of knowledge sharing, collective learning, experience accumulation, and transfer. Front Matter....Pages i-ix Introduction: Mapping the Paths Through the Handbook....Pages 1-7 Front Matter....Pages 9-9 Knowledge Management and Family Business....Pages 11-46 Learning Processes and Social Implications in Family Organizations....Pages 47-72 Family Business: Leadership and Succession....Pages 73-107 Family Business in the World....Pages 109-123 The Italian Entrepreneurial Outlook....Pages 125-186 Front Matter....Pages 187-187 Definition of Terms and Concepts....Pages 189-228 Insights from Theory and Practice....Pages 229-249 Critical Success and Failure Factors and Lessons Learned....Pages 251-260 Back Matter....Pages 261-267 This is the first book to explore the dynamics of family business from a knowledge management perspective. It integrates the literature from family business, entrepreneurship, industrial psychology, and knowledge management.