A brief history and a look to the future of family business heterogeneity: An introduction

Abstract

With family business heterogeneity entering the family business vernacular at the turn of the century, there have been increasing calls to study within family businesses and to move beyond comparing between nonfamily businesses to family businesses. In this introductory chapter, we provide a classifying framework to group preliminary heterogeneity articles into a 2 × 2 framework by forms of evidence (anecdotal-based and empirical based) and context comparison (between family and nonfamily firms and within family firms). We then introduce the 34 book chapters from leading authors from around the world and often from different disciplines. These chapters are organized in the following family heterogeneity thematic areas: the present state of family business research, family governance, nonfinancial and financial dynamics, organizational behavior and human resource management, and strategies. The intention of this edited volume of book chapters is to provide source material for additional conversations and evidence-based research on family business heterogeneity.