Family-controlled firms are the most widespread form of business organization, but they have so far attracted limited attention from organizational scholars. The present work suggests that coupling research on family business organizations with organization studies will substantially benefit both areas of scholarly research. We explore how the five core defining features of family firms—ownership, management and governance, transgenerational intention, generational involvement, and perceived identity—may be illuminated by extant research in organization studies, and how, in turn, organizational studies may be extended by investigating its key themes in the empirical context of family firms.

Current research commonly investigates two different growth modes, organic growth and growth by acquisitions. Studies on acquisition-based growth typically draw on cross-sectional quantitative studies of large firms that treat all acquisitions the same. Our study takes a different approach, and explores different growth modes of a smaller sample of medium-sized companies drawing on a longitudinal, qualitative case-study design. This research design allows us to identify eight different growth modes that companies combine in unique ways over time. Thereby, we illustrate that patterns of dynamic growth in medium-sized firms are much more diverse and complex than commonly assumed.

Pressures to professionalize family firms increasingly encompass ownership practices. Relying on a 10-year single-case study, we show how the parallel professionalization of business and family governance interact over time and how conflicts of norms, introduced through professional practices, affect family and business. We thus cast an ambivalent picture of professionalization. © 

Current research commonly investigates two different growth strategies, organic growth and growth by acquisitions. Studies on acquisition-based growth typically draw on cross-sectional quantitative studies of large US-based firms, treating all types of acquisitions as one mode. Our study takes a different approach, and explores different growth strategies of a smaller sample of medium-sized companies drawing on a longitudinal, qualitative design. This research design allows us to identify eight different growth modes. Thereby, we illustrate that dynamic growth processes in medium-sized firms are much more diverse and complex than commonly assumed.

This article contributes to the family business succession literature by (1) addressing ownership succession rather than management succession, (2) recommending a combination of legal and psychological perspectives on ownership to advance our understanding and (3) suggesting a preparatory approach to succession. Measuring the success of management succession has mainly been undertaken by assessing outcomes. Learning retrospectively why a succession was (un)successful may deepen our understanding of the process, but it is not particularly helpful to the business in question. We propose an alternative method for ownership succession: a preparatory approach that establishes requirements to fulfill before the succession takes place. These requirements are presented in a model that considers both the legal/financial and the psychological aspects of ownership and are formulated to improve intergenerational ownership succession and the post-succession prosperity of the firm.