Family businesses can out-compete: As long as they are willing to question the chosen path

Abstract

This commentary extends the discussion of whether CEO tenure will lead to strategies that have a longer-term orientation by examining the moderating role of task conflict which may either foster a decision-making context in which a long-term orientation represents a superior approach to decision making, or foster one which leads to strategic inertia, depending upon its intensity. The findings indicate that family firms that persist with the same CEO tend to persist with the same strategy when the level of executive team task conflict is high. © 2006 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.