Open AccessInnovation in small family firms: A qualitative multipla case study
Author(s) -
Ján Urban,
Zdeněk Caha
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
trendy v podnikání
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2788-0079
pISSN - 1805-0603
DOI - 10.24132/jbt.2020.10.4.20_28
Subject(s) - business , marketing , scope (computer science) , service (business) , product (mathematics) , qualitative research , qualitative property , industrial organization , service provider , tertiary sector of the economy , social science , geometry , mathematics , machine learning , sociology , computer science , programming language
Family firms, accounting globally for the majority of companies, are the backbone of many national and local economies. Despite their importance as both employers and producers/service providers, research on these firms, analyzing their innovative behavior or comparing it with other forms of companies, has often been describing them as more conservative and less risk-raking, generating thus less innovation compared with other types of businesses. The goal of this study was to analyze the scope innovative activities in family owned companies on the basis of an empirical qualitative survey, founded on descriptive multiple-case study analysis of fifteen small, locally operating family owned firms in retail and service-industry, which have successfully survived 5 or more years in business. It used semi structured interviews with family owners and focused on identifying their attitudes to innovation as well as their skills to apply innovations of various types, important for their market competitiveness. The results of the survey, contrary to some earlier findings pointing to family firms ́ conservativeness, showed that these firms, due to their specific organizational culture, rely on innovations substantially, though the main focus of their innovations tends to be on product/technological changes as well as innovations in clients ́ relations.