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Quarterly Report Q2-Q3

Within this stage of the research project, the focus was on conducting further interviews, refining first findings, combining business-related and psychological research, and finalizing the first publication on the economic basic model. We could also – especially with the basic model – make the basic idea accessible to a broad scientific community and discuss it since we were accepted by a number of research conferences. The presentation of our work about values at the international conference “Family Enterprise Research Conference” (FERC) aroused great interest, gave rise to qualitative discussions, and established new important contacts which might be useful for further progress of the project. The same holds true for our participation at the conference “International Family Enterprise Research Academy (IFERA), which took place at the end of June/beginning of July. The presented model (Figure 1) on how values impact Socio-Emotional-Wealth (SEW) and as a consequence the decision making in family businesses was very well received and led to an intensive discussion of all participants. The developed basic model could be improved thanks to the feedback and was finally accepted as publication in the “International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business”. This exceeded all our expectations related to the desired and planned output of the research project and increased our motivation and drive to work even more intensively on the expansion of the basic model on the psychological level. Therefore, parallel to the above-mentioned outputs, great content-related progresses could be achieved regarding the conduct of the interviews (internationally and nationally oriented), for example, in Mexico (3-4), Italy (1-2), and Switzerland (1-2) as well as in Germany (2). Above all, the “deep case” analysis has started allowing for a linking of the aspects hypnosis, positive psychology, values, and strategic decision. Furthermore, a logo for the common project was designed, a suitable font was integrated, and the overall design was adjusted accordingly. The set-up of the homepage was finalized; however, it is currently under construction due to the new logo and design. Finally, the project team also decided to present the homepage in German as well as in English. At the moment, this realization is taking place. We are glad that all project activities are proceeding further, and we invite you to participate in the developments and new findings by reading this report.

The whole report can be found here.

(Deutsch) Paper presentation – „International Research Meeting in Business and Management“ (IRMBAM) – Italy, Nice

At the IRMBAM 2018 in Nice, our article for the track “Family Business” was accepted. There, on three days, keynote speakers and discussants like Shaker Zahra, Alessandro Minichilli, or David G. Allen were attendant. Our session “Identity and Emotional Ownership in Family Firms” was about governance, psychological ownership, and values in family businesses. We could present our basic model as well as the idea of the whole project. Our approaches were constructively discussed, especially with regard to the heterogeneity of individuals and families in businesses. On the one hand, the social desirability in the interviews was problematized; on the other hand, the interesting part of the international comparison and the values in different contexts and generations were emphasized. Important contacts could be established for conducting further interviews in other countries or for finding project partners for a follow-up application.

Paper Presentation – „International Family Enterprise Research Academy“ (IFERA) – The Netherlands, Zwolle

The IFERA 2018 took place in Zwolle, the Netherlands and the project team were represented at the conference by Philipp Julian Ruf. Fortunately, he could have a short but interesting discussion with Dr. Rena Haftlmeier-Seiffert about the research topic as well as introducing the newly designed logo and design. The presentation of the further developed basic model was on the third day of the IFERA conference and was well received and feedback was given in a focused, small discussion round. It is worth mentioning that a linking of the values of Schwartz (1994) with SEW represents an interesting research area and has not yet been investigated. In addition to the presentation, valuable contacts to researchers with similar research focus could be established. This includes, for example, one contact to a researcher from the region of Baden-Wuerttemberg who conducted interviews with family businesses about their attitude towards life and leadership styles in family businesses. It is striven for exchange and possible synergy effects through meetings in the near future.

Poster Presentation – „Family Enterprise Research Conference“ (FERC) – Mexico, Guadalajara

The visit to Mexico was used for presenting our very first findings at the “Family Enterprise Research Conference” (FERC) in Guadalajara. Here, Prof. Dr. Imanol Belausteguigoitia presented with the help of a research poster the impact of values and SEW on decision making in family businesses. This international platform of family business researchers provided an opportunity to receive feedback on the basic model to point further research into the right direction. Here, we were encouraged to combine our existing findings with the theory of SEW and to work out a holistic model which considers the psychology of the individual and the family.

Draft-Paper accepted at the International Research Meeting in Business and Management (IRMBAM-2018) in Nice

We are pleased to inform, that our draft paper “Values as Antecedents of Socio-Emotional Wealth in Family Businesses, P. Moog [et al.]” is accepted at the International Research Meeting in Business and Management in Nice.

Looking forward to present our theories.

Best regards,

Your Project Team

Quarterly Report Q4 – Q1

The first phase of the project has successfully started and many goals have been reached. The focus of the first phase lay in the completion of the literature research, the conceptual design of the guidelines and surveys as well as the execution and determination of the first interview dates. One of the highlights of the first quarter of 2018 were the consistently positive responses to our research and to the general idea of the project from the international family business conferences FERC and IFERA as well as from the academic journals: International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business. An initial basic model was developed, which represented the values of family businesses as underlying motivators of socio-emotional wealth.

The full report can be found here.