Exploring family business. Culture and values as a competitive advantage

Master's Thesis from the year 2016 in the subject Business economics - Offline Marketing and Online Marketing, grade: 1,1, TU Bergakademie Freiberg, language: English, abstract: Family businesses significantly contribute to the economy, employment rate, and development of every country around the globe. However, academic research on family businesses is relatively young and diversified. Therefore, this thesis conducts a report on the literature-based analysis on family business issues with a focus on culture and values in a strategic management perspective.

The aim of this paper is to examine family businesses characteristics and to recognize their uniqueness in terms of culture, values, and behaviour. The main themes of the research are the following: in-depth analysis of prior family business research on family business definition issues, key family business features (in the contrast to non-family businesses), family business system characteristics, family business influence, family business organizational culture, and the influence of national culture on family business performance.

The research methodology employs qualitative research including selection, discussion, and comparing relevant family business theoretical and empirical studies.

The findings are used to extend the insights of the family business research on fundamental management and communication theories, and to provide a concept of family business organizational culture on the micro and macro level of analysis for potential future research in the family business practice.