This book series publishes monographs and edited volumes devoted to studies on entrepreneurship, innovation, as well as business development and managementrelated issues in Africa. Volumes cover in-depth analyses of individual countries, regions, cases, and comparative studies. They include both a specific and a general focus on the latest advances of the various aspects of entrepreneurship, innovation, business development, management and the policies that set the business environment. It provides a platform for researchers globally to carry out rigorous analyses, to promote, share, and discuss issues, findings and perspectives in various areas of business development, management, finance, human resources, technology, and the implementation of policies and strategies of the African continent. Frontiers in African Business Research allows for a deeper appreciation of the various issues around African business development with high quality and peer reviewed contributions. Volumes published in the series are important reading for academicians, consultants, business professionals, entrepreneurs, managers, as well as policy makers, interested in the private sector development of the African continent.

This chapter provides an introduction to this edited volume and its main themes Context, Challenges, and Cases. It briefly introduces the different chapters included in each of these themes.

This introductory chapter addresses manangement challenges across different types of African organizations. Based on a literature review of how management challenges in Africa have been studied to date, it introduces this volume´s three parts - Practices, Processes and Performance. It also gives a brief insight of the chapters that discuss these challenges in detail.

This book focuses on management challenges in different types of companies, ranging from small to large, from private to public and from service to manufacturing in the African context. With empirical data from countries as diverse as Rwanda, Kenya and Ethiopia, it discusses the increasing economic importance of the African continent, covering relevant topics on sustainability and environmental issues, exports, logistics, HR issues, innovation and financial reporting. Through different conceptual insights and empirical case studies, the research presented serves as a useful resource for academics, students, and policy-makers interested in in-depth studies on management challenges in Africa.

What series of activities do entrepreneurs engage in that lead to a compassionate organization? And What role does spirituality have for the activities of compassion? Drawing on spirituality and compassion as a conceptual lenses and a single case study from Pakistan, we find that through activities of compassion, grounded in the spiritual beliefs, owner entrepreneurs can develop a sustainable organization. Besides, we identify a set of activities and build an activity model of a sustainable organization. This study contributes to the literature on compassion, spirituality, and sustainable entrepreneurship.

Purpose

In the process of pursuing an entrepreneurial career, the role of the relational institution of the family depends on the economy in which the institutions are embedded. In emerging economies, parents play a more significant role concerning their children’s career in contrast to those in developed ones. In this respect, there is limited knowledge regarding the process of pursuing an entrepreneurial career while simultaneously handling parental relations in a context that does not support entrepreneurship. This paper investigates how parental dynamics influences the process of an individual’s transition to an entrepreneurial career after graduating from a university in a developing country.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is based on a longitudinal study of 15 graduate entrepreneurs in Ethiopia who were in the process of transitioning to entrepreneurial careers. Data was collected and analysed during a two and a half year period (2018–2020) drawing on 45 interviews with, and observations of, these entrepreneurs, and six interviews with parents.

Findings

The paper identifies patterns of how entrepreneurs embedded with or dis-embedded themselves from their parental relations as they developed their ventures. The findings show that there were shifts in the entrepreneur–parent relational dynamics from the pre-startup phase to the up and running phase. Drawing on these findings, the paper develops a theoretical framework of graduates’ transitioning to entrepreneurship as a process of individuation from parental relations. Further, we find that parents are both the context and the agents in the entrepreneurial process and that the graduates’ pursuit of entrepreneurial careers is instrumental for their individuation process. The findings contribute to the literature on family embeddedness in entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship career literature and individuation theory.

Originality/value

Answering the call for research on family embeddedness in entrepreneurship, this paper explores the role of parental dynamics when a family member transitions to an entrepreneurial career after graduating from a university. The study proposes and shows how individuation theory is a relevant perspective for understanding graduates’ transition to entrepreneurial careers.

The issue of mergers and acquisitions is of growing concern in many industries dominated by family ownership. Nevertheless there are few empirical studies of mergers and acquisitions involving family firms. While the few studies performed deal with how family owned companies respond to takeovers, this study will focus on family businesses as the acquiring firm. The empirical findings demonstrate that the family ownership logic of a family firm has concrete consequences for the acquisition process. Compared to traditional literature on mergers and acquisition, which has a focus on control by exchanging management in the acquired organization, the acquirers in this study worked in an alternative way when acquiring family owned businesses. The basis for their approach was trust in the acquired managers´ ability to manage the company for the long run.

Sharma (2004) made a call for further efforts to explore the linkages between family business studies and other disciplines in order to propel the family business field toward establishing a niche and identity within the research community. The aim of this study is to enhance knowledge on mergers and acquisitions in family firms, at the same time as we are using the M&A literature to reflect on the specifics of the family firm. The purpose of this study is to explore management of acquired family businesses, with special attention to family ownership logic. Suggestions for further research both regarding mergers and acquisitions within the family business field and the theoretical construct family ownership logic will be discussed.

This thesis offers an emotion perspective to the field of strategic change and leadership. Through a longitudinal study, following two strategic leaders in a real time setting of a radical change process, this study shows that emotions are all-embracing within such a process. The findings stress that strategic leaders are very emotionally committed and tied to the strategy of a company and feel personal responsibility for its progress. Emotions evolve in daily interaction and are produced and reproduced in this context. They arise as a means to understand and relate to the on-going process and as a means to explicitly emphasise and stress the importance of different aspects of the change as well.

The results of this study shows that emotions can be related directly to the change process where they serve as driving forces or restraining forces and as indirect driving or restraining forces in relation to the strategic intent. Furthermore, the co-production of emotions between the strategic leader and other organisational members has power implications such as power gain or power drain for the strategic leader, and thereby the strategic leadership. Emotions have also been proven to serve as constructors of emotion sediments, good-mood-setters and bad-mood-setters within the process.

Methodologically, this study opens up for further research on emotions. Through a series of micro-processes, the strategic leaders of this study have contributed by helping out with conversations prior to and after meetings and by offering their personal diary notes. Furthermore, a suggested classification of emotions is made in connection to a radical change process.

SYFTET med detta kapitel är att illustrera hur mikroprocesser bidrar till att öka vår kunskap om strategiska processer. Utgångspunkten är att mikroprocesser är viktiga för att förstå strategiska förändringsprocesser och deras resultat. Med hjälp av fenomenet känslor får läsaren insikt i ett par VD:ars strategiska förändringsprocess. Analysen visar hur känslor verkar som drivande och/eller återhållande krafter och därmed har betydelse för utvecklingen och resultatet av en sådan process. Kapitlet tar även upp hur mikroprocesser kan studeras metodologiskt.

From introduction: The purpose of this essay is to provide an insight into why family businesses are imbued with emotions where interactions among family members make them especially »high« on emotions.

In this article we show how specific family business logic shapes managerial practices. Based on empirical material from 20 case studies of family ownership governance, our study identifies seven core characteristics of family ownership logic. These include active, visible and persistent ownership with few owners, relatively stable strategic development encompassing multiple ownership goals, autonomy towards capital markets, and a strong identification and emotional bonding with the business. By considering the family business context, we find managerial practices that are prevalent in the majority of businesses around the world and that have implications for ownership research. It is concluded that by taking the logic of ownership into consideration when studying family businesses, researchers in this field can contribute to the growing literature on sociocultural and behavioural factors in corporate governance relations.

This paper sets out to identify the core characteristics of family ownership logic. Based on 20 in-depth conversations with family business owners representing different generations, life-cycles, sizes, and industries, listed or privately held, we suggest a family ownership logic indicating seven core characteristics. This logic is characterized by a stable and persistent ownership with few owners and a relative stable strategic development for which tradition and emotional ties are important. This paper concludes that in order to better understand family ownership logic we need to turn to alternative views on corporate governance and theories on psychological ownership. The implications of the family ownership logic are manifold. Related to agency theory and stewardship theory our empirical material raises several questions of relevance for the debate on governance in family-controlled firms.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate entrepreneurs’ investment decisions under uncertainty in continued investments where the authors test the role of emotions to continue or discontinue the investment.

Design/methodology/approach: A conjoint analysis is carried out on 101 entrepreneurs’ 3,232 investment decisions. The entrepreneurs were provided with a scenario of an investment where the dependent variable was the entrepreneur’s propensity to allocate further resources to the described investment. They assessed their willingness to allocate further resources to the investment on a seven point Likert-type scale. The independent variables in the experiment were the experienced emotions of the entrepreneur each of which was described by the two levels of high and low.

Findings: It was found that self-confidence, challenge, and hope increase the propensity to continue investments as do increased level of uncertainty. Embarrassment and strain do not increase this propensity, however, high uncertainty decreases the propensity to continue investments. In contrast to the escalation of commitment theory, embarrassment does not make entrepreneurs more prone to invest under uncertainty. Frustration does not yield significant results, which runs contrary to the theory and the hypothesis finds no support.

Research limitations/implications: The paper focused on a limited number of emotions, and also on one specific moderating factor that impacts the effect of these emotions on the investment decision.

Practical implications: To understand the role of their emotions in investment decisions under different levels of uncertainty may help entrepreneurs to improve the quality of their decision making.

Originality/value: This study is an experiment where practitioner entrepreneurs participate which increases the ecological validity of the study. Emotions can explain, partly, why entrepreneurs persist with some underperforming projects, but not others. Uncertainty is a powerful moderating variable in the decision-making process. The results enhance existing knowledge about the emotive side of entrepreneurs’ propensity to make investment decisions under uncertainty. The results also supplementand refine existing theories on self-justification.