Managing natural resources – are family firms different from other firms

Abstract

The main objective of this paper is to show differences in natural resource management between family-firms and other firms. Existing literature states that many family firms feature a strong rooting in the industrial sector and rely heavily on existing natural resources as basis of their success. As natural resources are limited, it must be suspected that family firms’ economic success has a limited timespan if resources are not managed from a perspective of sustainability. This study shows that family firms view their natural resources both as more important and subjectively scarcer than non-family firms. This, however, is not reflected in resource management activities, as family firms show less such activities than other companies.