Publications and Engagements

Built upon the mixed gamble perspective, we used a recent survey on Chinese family firms (FFs) and found that increased family influence lowers Chinese FF environmental proactiveness, as they show a peculiar tendency to take a financial view rather than a socioemotional wealth view. Moreover, we found that increased resource endowment attenuates this tendency, whereas provincial marketization strengthens it. However, entrepreneur reputation does not have a significant moderating effect. Overall, the study enriches an understanding of environmental proactiveness for FFs, organizational heterogeneity, and institutional differences. It also introduces new elements into the mixed gamble framework.

Liu, B., Qian, G., & Au, K. (2022). Family Influence and Environmental Proactiveness of Family Firms in China: A Mixed Gamble Perspective. Management and Organization Review, 1-24. doi:10.1017/mor.2022.21

Family foundations are prevalent, but seldom have researchers examined its function and influence as an ownership vehicle for family businesses. This paper advances an institutionalized reference-point theory to explain family foundation’s role on perpetuating family business. The theory posits that these foundations cultivate family members long-term commitment to corporate responsibility which enhances the identification and socio-economic wealth creation of business families. In a longitundinal study of public-listed family businesses (1996-2016) in Taiwan using survival analysis, the presence of family foundation not only itself promotes, but also, as a moderator, heightens the positive effect of family ownership on longevity of family firms. Qualitative evidence from interviewing professional accountants affirmed that family foundations strengthened the identification of members to the family businesses. Further, while their purpose was for charity and not control of the business, establishing the foundation shifted family members’ orientation for the long-term, which resulted in longer survival.

Chung, H.-M., Au, K., & Thomsen, S. (2022). Beyond charity: Family foundations perpetuating longevity of family businesses [Conference presentation]. Paper to be presented in AOM Annual Meetings, Seattle. https://doi.org/10.5465/AMBPP.2022.17307abstract

This chapter introduces the STEP Project Global Consortium Casebook and its various benefits, for students, family firm owners, managers, and consultants. Particularly, it emphasises on the need for family firms to learn from the challenges and disruptions they faced and the responses of other family firms to them. It introduces learnings from the experiences of other family leaders who already faced unexpected crises and offers a unique opportunity to reflect, learn, and react. The cases in this Casebook are concise, real, relevant, timely, peer-reviewed, diverse, and global. The cases were written by global scholars who followed an applied research approach to convert the tacit knowledge that family firms have gained into explicit knowledge that can be transmitted across generations and family firms. They come with a handy learning note that can facilitate the discussions in their own settings.

Bang, N.P., Samara, G., Basco, R., Calabrò, A., Cheng, J., Díaz-Matajira, L., & James, A. (2022). Family firms across the world: Succession and governance in a disruptive era. In J. Cheng, L. Diaz-Matajira, N.P. Bang, R. Basco, A. Calabrò, A. James, & G. Samara (Eds.), Family business case studies across the world: Succession and governance in a disruptive era. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.

The collective journey initiated with STEP Project affiliates, collaborators, and business families a few years ago helps us reflect on how business families react to disruptions and how they develop resilient models to survive across generations. Five lessons were learned from resilient families. First, business families see a disruptive event as an event in the sequence of events that are part of the story of their families. Second, business families use previous experience to overcome the present disruption. Third, hopes of family businesses motivate the common goals of finding constructive solutions to the current disruption. Fourth, family businesses are willing to receive advice and recommendations to overcome difficult times. Finally, the collaborative process of resilience starts from family history and family values. There is no one universal way to overcome the disruption but as many ways as there are business families and cultures in which they dwell.

Basco, R., James, A., Bang, N.P., Calabrò, A., Cheng, J., Díaz-Matajira, L., & Samara, G. (2022). Conclusion: The lessons learned. In J. Cheng, L. Diaz-Matajira, N.P. Bang, R. Basco, A. Calabrò, A. James, & G. Samara (Eds.), Family business case studies across the world: Succession and governance in a disruptive era. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.

This chapter proposes a way of analyzing and learning from family business cases, from the perspectives of families, advisors, and scholars. It shares how to "fish" knowledge that will maximize learnings from well-crafted cases, what the case learning approach is about and how to read a case in general. Moreover, it discusses how to analyze a family business case, paying specific attention to factors unique to family firms. Finally, it explains how families, advisors, and scholars can best utilize the materials in this Casebook.

Cheng, J., Calabrò, A., Diaz-Matajira, L., Bang, N.P., Basco, R., James, A., & Samara G. (2022). Family business case learning: How to maximize learnings from this STEP Project Global Casebook. In J. Cheng, L. Diaz-Matajira, N.P. Bang, R. Basco, A. Calabrò, A. James, & G. Samara (Eds.), Family business case studies across the world: Succession and governance in a disruptive era. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.

Ronald Chan was the third-generation heir apparent of a 70-year-old industry leader in Hong Kong. He joined the family-owned cycling business at its toughest time, and witnessed its sales tumble of nearly 50% due to different global crises. Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Ronald realized from the prior crises that their reliance on external supply of bicycles made them less responsive in the ongoing waves of disruptions. Hence, he suggested that the family create their own home-grown premium bicycle brand. The pandemic however suppressed the premium brand market, and Ronald needed to make a decision of whether he should detour to build a low-tier brand to meet the current demand, or continue with his plan for a high-end brand for long-term growth.

Jen, M., Cheng, J., Au, K., & Chen, X. (2022). DC International: Riding out of disruption as a third-generation successor. In J. Cheng, L. Diaz-Matajira, N.P. Bang, R. Basco, A. Calabrò, A. James, & G. Samara (Eds.), Family business case studies across the world: Succession and governance in a disruptive era (pp.161-168). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.

This book documents the distinctive experiences and challenges of Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Asia. By assessing succession and innovation in SMEs as the two sides of a coin, this book explains how innovations are essential to SMEs in succession. With detailed case examples, the book provides generalized solutions for SMEs to answer the question of how to make succession and innovation simultaneously successful. The authors discuss the potential solutions to solve the challenges of SMEs on succession and innovation by considering the utilization of the capital market, the electronic commerce strategy, the international strategy, and angel investment to pursue portfolio entrepreneurship, and compare these Asia solutions to the experiences from Europe.  The book is recommended for family business and SME owners, professionals serving these firms, and the consulting firms that work on continuity issues of SMEs in Asia.

Answering the most pressing thirty-five questions of Next Generation members in a short and concise, yet competent way—leading academics, practitioners, and enterprising families come together to empower Next Generation legacies.Masterfully detangling the intricate dynamics of the family, ownership, business, and wealth, the authors share best practices, real-life examples, and critical questions for reflection.Part 1: FamilyDefining family · Managing family dynamics · Dealing with conflicts · Family communication · Preparing generational transitions · Keeping the family unitedPart 2: OwnershipResponsibilities and rights · Preparation of future owners · Dealing with non-active owners · Ownership transfers · Board expectations and roles · Owner networksPart 3: BusinessPreparing business entry · Working with nonfamily executives · Hiring family members · Promoting family members · Letting go of family members · Engaging family business consultantsPart 4: WealthDealing with wealth · Pursuing a vocation outside of the family enterprise · Leaving the family enterprise · Selling the family business · Starting a family office · Pursuing philanthropy and impact investingEnabling Next Generation Legacies is a powerful guide for Next Generation members and their families to ask better questions, make better decisions, live better lives, and build stronger legacies.

Are family businesses really more resilient, agile and adaptable than other business types? And, if so, have they been able to tackle the challenges of COVID-19 better than most and, perhaps, emerged even stronger?The shock of an unexpected global pandemic provided an opportunity for the Successful Transgenerational Entrepreneurship Practices (STEP) Project Global Consortium and KPMG Private Enterprise to come together to find the answers to these questions by taking a firsthand look at how family businesses have responded to the pandemic in the Global family business survey: COVID-19 edition and report.Mastering a comeback, PDF coverGlobal survey data was collected between June and October 2020, followed by input from family business leaders, academics and family business advisers in January 2021. The experiences and insights from family businesses in the Americas, Asia, Europe and the Middle East & Africa have revealed a roadmap, not only for mastering a comeback in their businesses, but for leading a global economic recovery.

The STEP Project Global Consortium and KPMG Private Enterprise are pleased to have the opportunity to share the insights gathered from more than 1,800 family business leaders in every major region of the world. The STEP 2019 Global Family Business Survey examined the impact of changing demographics on the future of family businesses and was followed up with in-depth interviews among family business leaders across the globe, many of whom generously agreed to openly share their experiences in a series of four co-authored articles.The first article in the series, “The courage to choose wisely: Why the succession decision may be a defining moment in your family business,” explores the ways in which changing demographics are influencing succession decisions and the succession planning process itself. The second article, “The power of women in family business: A generational shift in purpose and influence,” takes an up-close look at the demographic shifts that are changing the role of women in family businesses and the unique competitive advantages they can deliver.The third article, “Creating value through good governance: How to balance what is right for the business and for the family,”examines the many layers of family and business governance systems and mechanisms and the ways in which the evolving principles of good governance create value for both the business and the family. Our insights are derived from the findings of the STEP 2019 Global Family Business Survey and the first-hand experiences of multi-generations of family business leaders globally.