Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

Despite the fact that the family business study has a history and multiple theories that supports research, there is still a need to use approaches that allow a better understanding of the business, starting from the members of the family that comprise it. This research makes a review of the literature searching for ways previously used to classify the business family, as well as the theories for the study of the family business and the business family. Concluding with the presentation of the Subjective Well-being Approach as a new form of study of the family business, being able to contribute to the enrichment of other concepts by including emotions and focusing on the family.

A family identity of a firm, exhibited by the presence of the family name in the business name, can influence the value of economic profitability. The present analysis also explores if this relationship varies depending on the size and the generation running the business. The sample used to conduct this study comprises a panel data set of 21,149 Spanish family firms containing information from 2003 to 2015, which translates into a balanced database including 274,937 observations. For analysis purposes, the firms are classified into small, medium-sized and large ones. Contrary to the competitive advantages brought about by the family identity of the businesses highlighted by previous research, the current study suggests its negative effects on the profitability of small and medium-sized family firms. This effect is more acute when the company is managed by its founding generation. The findings in the case of large family firms indicate that the company name does not have an impact upon economic profitability.

Family business literature barely addresses family farms and their innovation behavior. Innovation can be key to mitigate typical threats family farms are faced with, e.g., global competition and climate change. This article investigates socioemotional wealth (SEW) and diversity of information sources as innovation drivers. It also explores the role of diversity of information sources as a moderator. A sample of 911 family farms was used for linear regression analysis. The SEW dimension identification of the family members with the farm positively affects the implementation of innovation measures because the stronger the family members identify with the business, the more important is it for them to preserve the identity endowments. Since innovation is a way to do that, strong identification will motivate family members to innovate. Diversity of information sources is also positively linked to innovation measures. However, it has a negative moderating effect on the relationship between identification and innovation measures. While diverse information sources seem to increase a family farm’s ability to innovate by supporting the opportunity identification and utilization, it can also mitigate the farms willingness to innovate when information is ambiguous. The study integrates knowledge from agricultural, innovation and family business research and contributes to a better understanding of the peculiar business type “family farms” and SEW as a multidimensional concept.

This research aims to cover some of the existing gap in the strategy of family firms literature, taking into account the heterogeneity of this kind of firms. We use a logit regression methodology in order to analyse the relationship between the strategy selected by the family firm and its performance, and whether differences exist depending on the degree of the family involvement in the firm. In order to test for our hypothesis, we use a sample of Spanish firms from the wine sector. Our results show that Porter’s cost strategy is positively related to performance for all type of family firms, and that a Miles’ analyser strategy is positively related to performance in family firms, although the effect of this strategy loses its impact as the degree of involvement of the family in the firm increases. It has also been shown that Miles’ reactive strategy, in family firms with more than fifty per cent of family involvement, negatively influences performance. In short, the results show that the strategy chosen by the family firm depends on the degree of property owned by the family.

The present study analyzes dividends paid in unlisted family and non-family businesses, exploring factors that lead to higher or lower dividend payments. Data from 612 Spanish companies during 12 consecutive years was analyzed. This study indicates that family businesses, as a result of the greater proximity of the family to the business, pay lower dividends. However, we found evidence of higher dividends paid in pyramid structures, susceptible to higher agency costs, both in family and non-family businesses. In family businesses, this can be explained by their aim to maintain levels of trust with minority interests, and in non-family businesses by the purpose to mitigate conflicts of interest as a consequence of greater autonomy of subsidiaries. The evidence obtained adds value to the investigation, which has generally been focused on listed companies. Considering that unlisted companies use the dividend policy to align divergent interests, especially in more fragile governance structures, the results contribute to reduce the gap in research, and have practical implications for companies and investors.

This paper aims to assess differences between employees of family and non-family firms regarding their levels of employee silence and their perceptions of the company’s entrepreneurial orientation. Moreover, focusing on family firms, we assess the relationship between the levels of employees’ silence and their perceptions of the firm’s entrepreneurial orientation. The empirical evidence is provided by a sample of 245 Portuguese employees, 117 employees of family firms, and 128 of non-family firms, who responded to a questionnaire that included employee silence and entrepreneurial orientation measures. Results reveal that family firms’ employees show higher levels of employee silence but perceive their companies as less entrepreneurially oriented than employees of non-family companies. In addition, our results do not support the idea that there is a relationship between the levels of employee silence and the employee’s perception of the company’s entrepreneurial orientation. This paper offers initial insights into the debate on the relationship between the levels of employee silence and the employee’s perception of the company’s entrepreneurial orientation in family firms.

This paper examines the effect of the family involvement in the performance of Greek listed companies, during the Greek financial crisis. The involvement of family in firm’s ownership, management and governance along with the firm’s age constitute the unified framework that describe the family influence on the enterprise. The main contribution of this paper is the investigation of a research period when Greece faced an unprecedented economic 9 year crisis that affected all sectors of the economy, with 72% of listed companies showing a decrease in revenue and the total capitalization of the Greek Stock Exchange shrinking by 70%. No previous study has incorporated performance data on listed companies during a corresponding financial crisis with large fluctuations in all performance indicators and a high volatility in the national economy. The sample of the research includes 80 family firms listed in the Greek Stock Exchange. The findings illustrate a better performance for family firms with lower family ownership and prove a stronger performance in younger family businesses. The results of the study do not confirm the positive involvement of family members, through management (CEO) and governance (BoD) positions in the family business performance.

Family firms show specific behavior in their internationalization because of the affective ties derived from the family’s influence in the business. The desire to achieve business and family objectives determines the strategic decision making of family members in governance and management, affecting the internationalization strategy. This research intends to determine the factors related to family influence in the internationalization of family firms. Thus, using a sample of 254 Spanish small- and medium-sized family firms, we analyze how family-related factors affect exports. The results confirm that family ownership and the generation in charge of the firm have positive effects on the export intensity of family firms. However, the results are not conclusive when assessing the relationship between family involvement in the board of directors and exports.

The use of medicinal plants in health recovery has evolved over time, used by primitive man, up to the most sophisticated technological forms adopted by modern man. They represent an important tool in health promotion in many regions of Brazil, and are also being investigated in the state of Santa Catarina. The purpose of this study was to carry out a survey of the plants and their medicinal use, with the residents of the municipality of Bandeirante-SC. During the period from January to July 2019, a sample of 40 people were interviewed, chosen by the technique known as snowball (snowball sampling), using a structured interview script, with open and closed questions, which addressed data related to the characteristics personal information such as age, education, length of residence in the municipality and the use of plants as medicine by residents. The interviewees mentioned 40 species distributed in 18 families and Lamiaceae (11), Asteraceae (09) were the ones with the highest number of species. The most mentioned plants like Gervão (Stachytarpheta cayennensis), Horsetail (Equisetum hiemale), Mentinha (Hyptis atrorubens), Breaking Stone (Phyllanthus niruri), Cancorosa (Maytenus ilicifolia), Macela (Egletes viscosa), Anador (Justiciapectoralis) Baccharis trimera) and Guaco (Mikania glomerata) are native to Brazil. Of these plants Baccharis trimera, Maytenus ilicifolia and Mikania glomerata make up the National List of Essential Medicines (RENAME), the leaves being suitable for use. As for the transmission of knowledge and use of plants, we verified that it occurs through conversation wheels together with the use of another medicinal plant, Ilex paraguariensis, which is used in chimarrão. The multiplicity of uses of some of the mentioned species demonstrates the population's ethno-knowledge, which results in the recording of this knowledge, acquired in direct contact with the environment in which they live, a relevant contribution to the preservation of biodiversity.  

The study of the thermal behavior of buildings has shown itself to be increasingly important in the search for a thermally balanced environment, favoring the comfort of users and, consequently, greater performance in the activities to be developed on site. The objective of this work is to evaluate the thermal performance of the Escola Municipal de Bento Rodrigues. It also seeks to analyze design strategies that impact the thermal performance of the building, in order to support decisions in the execution of the work and in future constructions in the region. The evaluation procedure adopted in this work is based on computer simulations in the EnergyPlus program, adopting as evaluation criteria the guidelines of standard NBR 15575. The results referring to the internal temperatures, generated by the simulations in the EnergyPlus program, demonstrated that the classrooms of the Escola Municipal de Bento Rodrigues present, in general, an adequate thermal performance. In the computational simulations of the parametric analyses, it was found that, considering Bioclimatic Zone 3, the opening of the rooms must be oriented to the north or to the south; the natural ventilation of the rooms is an important condition in the removal of excess heat from the environment; the characteristics of the closures indicated by the NBR 15575 standard provide adequate thermal performance; and the choice of floor finish does not generate significant changes in the building's thermal behavior.