Intergenerational succession and internationalisation strategy of family SMEs: Evidence from China

Internationalisation is a key dimension of a firm's strategy process. Yet, research on why and how family firms internationalise is underdeveloped. As one of the most critical issues family firms face, how intergenerational succession can influence their internationalisation remains an important question. Given the extraordinary succession and internationalisation circumstances pertaining to China, we conducted a qualitative case study analysis of eleven newly internationalised Chinese small- and medium-sized family firms that had recently undergone a succession from the first to the second generation. Three distinct intergenerational succession patterns among our case firms were identified, revealing three underlying types of incumbent-successor relationships. Based on our findings, we put forth propositions on how these patterns influence the next-generation's level of attitudinal commitment toward and resources available for internationalisation, and link these to the firm's overall internationalisation capabilities and international involvement. Our findings suggest that the connection between intergenerational succession and internationalisation strategy of family firms is significantly influenced by the nature of the underlying incumbent-successor relationship and therefore much more complex than previously considered.     

Ambidexterity in family firms: The interplay between family influences within and beyond the executive suite

Ambidexterity commonly refers to the simultaneous pursuit of exploration and exploitation and may be particularly beneficial for family firms. In this study, we investigate how family CEO and top management team (TMT) family affiliation influence ambidexterity. In addition, we consider the role of family ownership dispersion and how it impacts the ability of the top managers of family firms to foster ambidexterity. We test our hypotheses on a unique dataset combining archival and multiple respondent survey data of 167 German family firms. Our results shed light on conditions under which family-led leadership can pursue ambidexterity.     

Restructuring in family firms: Balancing family objectives and economic prosperity

This study analyzes the extent to which family firms adopt distinct restructuring strategies (employee downsizing, management dismissals, asset retrenchment, dividend cuts) in response to declining performance. We hypothesize that family firms select different restructuring strategies than non-family firms because of the mixed gamble between economic benefits and socioemotional wealth (SEW), and that this difference diminishes as the severity of decline increases. The hypotheses were tested with a sample of 357 decline incidences in 283 German firms between 2005 and 2018 and are largely confirmed; at low decline severity, family firms downsize and retrench less, but this tendency is reversed as the severity increases. They tend to cut dividends more strongly and are less willing to dismiss managers, irrespective of their decline severity.     

Entrenchment in publicly traded family firms: Evidence from the S&P 500

Family involvement in corporate governance through ownership, management, and board membership presents a unique dilemma for understanding the strategic impetus and costs of entrenchment decisions. The presence of shared family ties and the family-centered goals of firm principals call to question the applicability of extant agency arguments regarding the nature and antecedents of managerial entrenchment. Exploring this, we develop and test a model of family firm-specific determinants (i.e., family ownership and family's involvement in management and governance) of entrenchment in publicly traded firms by drawing upon principal-principal agency theory. Findings of the empirical analysis of family owned S&P 500 firms suggest family firms are motivated to entrench managers when doing so supports the pursuit of family-centric goals. However, the extent to which entrenchment supports such goals varies at different levels of family ownership.     

Measuring Subjective Probabilities: The Effect of Response Mode on the Use of Focal Responses,Validity, and Respondents’ Evaluations

Subjective probabilities are central to risk assessment, decision making, and risk communication efforts. Surveys measuring probability judgments have traditionally used open‐ended response modes, asking participants to generate a response between 0% and 100%. A typical finding is the seemingly excessive use of 50%, perhaps as an expression of “I don't know.” In an online survey with a nationally representative sample of the Dutch population, we examined the effect of response modes on the use of 50% and other focal responses, predictive validity, and respondents’ survey evaluations. Respondents assessed the probability of dying, getting the flu, and experiencing other health‐related events. They were randomly assigned to a traditional open‐ended response mode, a visual linear scale ranging from 0% to 100%, or a version of that visual linear scale on which a magnifier emerged after clicking on it. We found that, compared to the open‐ended response mode, the visual linear and magnifier scale each reduced the use of 50%, 0%, and 100% responses, especially among respondents with low numeracy. Responses given with each response mode were valid, in terms of significant correlations with health behavior and outcomes. Where differences emerged, the visual scales seemed to have slightly better validity than the open‐ended response mode. Both high‐numerate and low‐numerate respondents’ evaluations of the surveys were highest for the visual linear scale. Our results have implications for subjective probability elicitation and survey design.     

Fresh in the saddle: The influence of a new CEO's vision and origin,and CEO succession type on market actors' reactions

CEO succession is a critical event in the life of a company. How external stakeholders respond to it, can affect the company's valuation. This study investigates how securities analysts' and investors' reactions to CEO succession are affected by the interplay between the charisma of the new CEO's vision, the new CEO's origin (whether an insider or outsider), and the type of CEO succession (whether routine, dismissal or interim). Drawing on the literature on signaling, we suggest that because a charismatic vision emits a positive signal about the company's future performance, it will affect market actors' reactions by either weakening or strengthening the influence of the signals emitted by other succession context contingencies, namely, CEO origin and succession type. To test our predictions regarding analysts' and investors' reactions, we respectively analyze panel data and conduct an event study. The results support most of our predictions. We discuss the study's contributions and implications.     

The substitution of governance mechanisms in the evolution of family firms

This paper examines how family firms substitute corporate governance with family governance and self-governance at different stages of their development. We argue that the types of agency problems that family firms face as they pass from one generation to the next determine the extent to which these mechanisms can be used as substitutes for one another. Our empirical investigation provides evidence that in the early stages of a family firm's life cycle, instruments of self-governance lessen the need for mechanisms of corporate governance, whereas in the later stages, instruments of family governance can substitute for mechanisms of corporate governance.     

The stability of job and family involvement: Applying the multi-wave,multi-variable technique to longitudinal data

The main aim of the study was to examine the stability of job and family involvement, applying multi-wave, multi-variable modelling within the framework of LISREL models. The abbreviated job and family involvement scales based on Kanungo's (1979, 1982) motivational model were examined on the basis of 3-year longitudinal data. The study was carried out by means of questionnaires, which were filled in by Finnish employees (n = 109) on three occasions. The results show that both job and family involvement remained relatively stable during the follow-up period. Further, the scales showed reasonable unidimensionality across time. In addition, the item reliability of the scales was found to be adequate. Of the demographic characteristics studied (i.e. gender, age, socioeconomic status, presence of children at home, age of the youngest child) only gender had a significant effect on involvement: men were found to be more involved with their jobs than were women.     

家族成员的权力集中度与企业绩效———对家族上市公司的研究

如何在家族成员内部建立有效的治理机制是家族企业研究的关键问题之一.基于各个家族成员的偏好存在差异且追求其自身效用最大化这一假设, 分析家族成员内部的权力集中度对企业绩效的影响程度以及这种影响的受制条件.实证结果表明:相对于线性关系, 倒 U型假设更有助于解释我国家族上市公司的家族成员内部权力集中度与经营绩效之间的关系;企业的经营多样性和经营规模对家族成员权力集中度的功效起到显著的调节作用     

家族企业网络化成长模式对企业成长的影响及机制:基于东西部地区的实证研究

本文利用浙江、重庆等东西部省市家族企业的调查数据,实证检验了家族企业网络化成长模式对家族企业成长的影响及机制,结果发现:第一,网络模式直接影响家族企业成长.体现在,网络中心度、二级网络范围、二级网络持久度对家族企业成长有显著的正向影响,一级网络持久度对家族企业成长有显著的负向影响.第二,网络模式通过影响网络竞争优势进而影响家族企业成长.体现在,一级网络持久度通过获取政府资源的中介作用间接阻碍家族企业成长,二级网络持久度通过获取政府资源的中介作用间接促进家族企业成长,网络中心度通过降低交易成本、获取政府资源的中介作用间接促进家族企业成长.当引入网络竞争优势中介变量后,一级网络范围、组织学习对家族企业成长产生了显著的负向影响.研究结论对我国家族企业成长实践有重要指导意义.     

防降价均衡下的产品兼容性、网络效应和品牌效应

防降价均衡不同于纳什均衡,其更能描述厂商降价策略中的行为动机;网络产业中厂商间的价格竞争是一种防降价博弈,同时,产品的兼容性、网络效应和品牌效应都会对厂商和消费者的决策产生较大的影响,本文对防降价均衡模型进行了修改,引进了网络效应参数和品牌效应参数利用防降价均衡模型研究了这一问题,论证并得出了相关结论。     

股市波动的杠杆效应检验:一种新的方法

股市波动的非对称性特征一直是金融研究中关注的焦点问题。本文首次构建了一个非平衡似无关波动模型,从个股角度对波动的非对称性进行检验。通过与综合指数的对比研究,本文揭示了市场因素对波动非对称性的影响。实证结果表明,我国深证成份指数波动存在杠杆效应,而成份股波动却表现出反向杠杆效应。市场同时存在的共同因素和异质因素,是导致成份股波动和成份指数波动表现不一致的原因。进一步的研究结果表明,在消除共同因素影响后,成份股波动的反向杠杆效应会表现更明显。     

Beyond a Simple Case of Black and White: Searching for the White Male Effect in the African-American Community

Prior research focusing on risk perceptions has led to the observation that well‐educated and politically conservative white males tend to systematically perceive lower levels of risk from a wide range of hazards when compared to other members of society (e.g., white women, nonwhite women and men). While this “white male effect (WME)” is quite striking given that many policymakers fall into this group, a byproduct of this finding is that it deflects attention from the heterogeneity, in terms of people's concerns about risks, that exists in African‐American and other minority communities. The research reported here set out to explore this heterogeneity by asking a simple question: Can a phenomenon similar to the WME be found in the African‐American community? It can, and its implications for research and practice in risk management are discussed.     

中国股市账面市值比效应成因分析:基于行为金融视角

本文将账面市值比分解为反映公司基本面的有形收益和反映投资者主观预期的无形收益,以1994-2008年间在沪深两市交易的A股公司为研究样本,实证考察投资者对账面市值比中不同元素的反应,结果显示,投资者对公司发展前景的主观预期过分乐观或者悲观引发市场过度反应,随着市场回归理性,股票收益发生反转导致账面市值比效应。     

Shared Governance in Communities: Using Study Circles to Put Citizens at the Center of the System

This article describes four communities where citizens and government are participating in a dialogue and action process called study circles. Together, the organizers, citizens, and public officials of these communities are beginning to recognize the potential benefits of sharing the decisions and tasks of governance.     

中国商品期货市场风险溢价及其影响因素测度研究:基于套期保值压力效应的视角

本文基于套期保值压力效应的视角主要从商品期货合约本身的套期保值压力和交叉套期保值压力两个方面对我国农产品、能源化工和金属商品期货的风险溢价进行测度和分析.实证研究表明:当控制系统风险后,商品期货本身的套期保值压力与存在于组内的交叉套期保值压力均显著地影响期货的风险溢价.最后,本文引入价格压力变量以检验期货风险溢价模型的稳健性,当控制价格压力后,这两种套期保值压力效应仍然显著地存在.     

硅谷与中关村人才聚集效应及环境比较研究

人才的流动会出现人才聚集现象,而人才聚集现象在和谐环境中将产生1 1>2的人才聚集效应。这种聚集效应能极大地促进人才作用的发挥,有效地推动区域技术创新和高新技术产业的发展。在分析人才聚集效应及其环境的基础上,通过对硅谷和中关村的人才聚集效应及环境的比较,探讨了各种环境因素对人才聚集效应的影响,并提出了优化中关村人才聚集环境的基本对策,旨在促进人才聚集效应的产生和提升。     

非平稳需求状态下虚拟企业牛鞭效应的存在性分析

本文从供应链管理的角度出发,将牛鞭效应的概念和模型引入虚拟企业的运营过程中,运用可变系数的自回归移动平均(ARIMA)模型对虚拟企业上下游成员企业需求信息进行预测,研究非平稳需求状态下虚拟企业内上下游企业订货水平的差异,证明了虚拟企业运营中牛鞭效应的存在性,最后提出除虚拟企业的敏捷经营、信息共享对牛鞭效应的影响以外,需求的波动也是影响牛鞭效应的重要因素,并讨论了信息完全共享的情况下牛鞭效应存在的条件.     

从分销到直销：销售渠道关系的经济分析

在制造商主导的供应链中,分销商与制造商合作的程度,即销售渠道关系的强弱在[0,1]内的连续分布,可以看作市场化同企业化的不同组合。文章利用Stackelberg博弈分析了不同渠道关系对渠道产生的经济影响,将分销和直销分别看作[0,1]分布的两个极端情形,进行了重点探讨。在产品没有销售模式倾向的情况下,得出的一般性结论是:直销无论在产量还是价格,无论对制造商、整个渠道还是消费者都将产生积极影响。在理论上为解释渠道中的冲突和直销的成功提供了一个工具。     

法律渊源、关系异象与资本结构决策机理:基于17个国家地区制造业的面板证据

本文选取处于不同法律渊源的17个国家(地区)制造业上市公司2004-2008年的公司特征数据和国家宏观经济指标,研究国际间资本结构动态决定的宏观与微观因素的交互作用关系.结果发现:一是经济增速、资本形成和法治制度等国家宏观经济制度因素主要通过公司特征因子依次间接调整目标资本结构水平且作用关系路径和效应强弱排序相对不变;二是宏观要素对制造业上市公司资本结构直接效应存在英美法系国家(地区)显著高于大陆法系国家(地区),而在大陆法系国家(地区)范围内法国大陆法系最高,德国大陆法系(地区)次之,斯堪的纳维亚大陆法系国家最低的现象;三是发展中国家公司特征因素与目标资本结构的关系异象根源于特定经济制度背景,而在不同法律渊源国家(地区)范围内特定微观因素对资本结构的作用效应强弱顺序具有相对稳定性.