Family Business and Technological Innovation

This book explores technological innovation in family firms, seeking to reconstruct the links between the heterogeneous dimensions of family businesses and their innovative behaviour. Building on and examining the traditional view of family firms as conservative, this book contributes to knowledge surrounding the puzzling role of family firms in technological innovation, with particular focus on the Italian pharmaceutical industry. The authors explore technological advances within the industry in connection with various features of family governance. This thought-provoking study is divided into two parts, the first part providing an overview of current literature on the topic, and the second part analysing the findings of empirical investigation in a specific industry setting. Practitioners and academics of business strategy will find this book extremely useful as it combines both solid theoretical reasoning and robust empirical analysis.

Presents cutting-edge empirical analysis on family firms within the Italian pharmaceutical industry Proposes a framework for the analysis of innovation in family firms competing in high-technology and global settings Suggests a range of best practices and an updated research agenda to inform future studies Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Autorentext

Alessandra Perri is Assistant Professor at the Department of Management of Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Italy, and John H. Dunning Visiting Fellow at the John H. Dunning Centre for International Business, Henley Business School, UK. Alessandra has previously worked as postdoctoral fellow at Charles III University of Madrid, Spain. Enzo Peruffo is Assistant Professor in the Department of Business and Management at LUISS Guido Carli University, Italy, Head of Specialised Masters and Director of Part Time MBA at LUISS Business School. Enzo is Visiting Professor at the Texas Christian University, USA, and has previously worked as Visiting Scholar at INSEAD Business School, France.

Inhalt

1. Introduction.- 2. Theoretical Perspectives on Family Firms.- 3. Innovation in Family Firms: Critical Review of Theoretical and Empirical Literature.- 4. Family-Firm Innovation in the Global Pharmaceutical Industry.- 5. Family Business and Technological Innovation: Evidence from the Italian Pharmaceutical Industry.- 6. Concluding Remarks and Avenues for Future Research.