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CALL FOR BOOK CHAPTERS

Dear colleagues,

We would like to cordially invite you to consider contributing a chapter to a forthcoming book entitled "Family Businesses in Transition Economies". 

The book proposal is under review by publishing editor of the world-wide known publisher, SPRINGER.

The book will be edited by:

Leo-Paul Dana

GSCM Montpellier Business School, Montpellier, France

Veland Ramadani

Faculty of Business and Economics, South-East European University, Republic of Macedonia

Family businesses constitute the dominant and oldest form of business organizations. They had a special importance in the economy throughout history, which continues today in the modern world. Almost in all countries of the world, family businesses play a key role in overall economic development, including workforce engagement (Hacker & Dowling, 2012; Fattoum & Fayolle, 2009; Kellermanns et al., 2008; Kuratko & Hodgetts, 2004).  In US, around 90% of companies are family businesses, produce 64 % of GDP and employ 72 % of the domestic workforce (Poza, 2012). In European countries, we have the same situation. Family enterprises represent the majority of all enterprises. For example: in Italy 93%, Finland 80%, Greece 80%, Cyprus 80%, Sweden 79%, Spain 75%, Netherlands 74%, United Kingdom 70%, Portugal 70%, Belgium 70%, France 60%, Germany 60 % etc. (IFERA, 2003). Also, family businesses dominate in the transition economies, for example, in Hungary 70% of all businesses are family businesses, in Poland 90%, in Slovenia more than 50%, in Croatia are registered around 150.000 active enterprises and many of these enterprises are family ones etc.(Duh et al., 2008).

It should be noted that there is no generally accepted definition about family businesses, neither in developed economies, nor in transition ones. Many scholars attempt to 'articulate conceptual and operational definitions of a family enterprise' (Duh et al., 2008).

Understanding the family businesses ranges from a small enterprise on the edge of a road to a neighborhood, to large conglomerates that operate in different industries and countries (IFC, 2008). Therefore, the definition of family businesses or businesses is a quite complex issue, where relevant difficulty represents the interaction of the family system and business (Fattoum & Fayolle, 2009; Chua et al, 1999).

The general concept of the family business includes any business, in which the bulk of the ownership or control lies in a family, and in which two or more family members are involved directly (Brockhaus, 2004). Family business is a double complex system, comprising business and family. These systems overlap and are both dynamic organisms that develop and change and are both unique with their particular history, challenges, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that are exposed. Family members who are involved in the business are part of a system of tasks of business and part of the family system. For this reason, conflicts may occur because each system has its own rules, roles and requirements. Families can have their own style of communication and conflict resolution which can be good for the family but it does not mean that this will be good for resolving business disputes. Entry to the family system is from the birth and membership is permanent, whereas entry into the business system is based on experience and opportunities. As in the family, also in business too, roles as president of the company, manager, employee, shareholder or owner carry their responsibilities and expectations. Conflicts may arise when the problems from one system are transferred to another system (Bowman-Upton, 2009). 

A definition of family business should determine why it is unique, and this raises the question of "what is it unique?" This has nothing to do with the fact that family members own or manage a business. What makes a family business unique is that the model of ownership, governance, and succession management, materially affect the objectives, strategies, structure, and the way in which it is formulated, designed and implemented as business activity (Chua et al., 1999).

According to Poza (2010) if a business is to be considered a family business it must meet the following characteristics: (a) ownership control (15% or higher) by two or more members of the family or families partnership; (b) strategic influence by family members on the management of the business, either by being active in management, continuing to create culture, serving as an advisor or board member, or by being an active shareholder; and (c) concern for family relationships; the dream or possibility of continuity across generations. Further, the same author, to this list of features, in the tendency to give a clearer picture for the family business and to differentiate from other businesses, adds several features, as follows: (a) the presence of the family; (b) the overlap of family, management, and ownership, with its zero-sum (win-lose) propensities, which in the absence of growth of the business, render family business particularly vulnerable during succession; (c) the unique sources of competitive advantage (like a long term investment horizon), derived from the interaction of family, management, and ownership, especially when family unity is high; and (d) the owner's  dream of keeping the business in the family (the objective being business continuity from generation to generation).

Alderson (2011, p.6) defines a family business as "business governed and/or managed in order to form and follow the vision of the business held by a dominant coalition controlled by members of the same family or a small number of families that is potentially sustainable in all generations of the family or families." Carlock and Ward (2001) described a family business as a scale which should be balanced between the requirements and business opportunities and the needs and desires of the family. The balance between these two 'forces'-business and family can be achieved based on five variables, including: (a) control: setting in a fair way who will arrive at the decisions; (b) career: need to make it possible for family members to be rewarded and promoted based on their performance; (c) capital: family members can reinvest without damaging the interests of other family members; (d) conflict: conflict must be addressed due to the proximity between business and family; and (e) culture: family values have to be used in the development of plans and actions.

We would like to invite you to contribute a chapter related (but not limited) to these topics : 

·         Context and Uniqueness of Transition Economies

·         Context and Uniqueness of Family Businesses

·         Family Business Life Cycle and Ownership Configurations

·         Families and Conflict Management

·         Corporate Governance in Family Businesses

·         Succession Challenges in Family Businesses

·         Financing sources and the development of family businesses

·         Leadership and family businesses

·         Internationalization of Family Businesses 

·         Indigenous Family Businesses 

·         Sport Clubs as a Family Businesses 

·         Cases and Examples

We welcome contributions that deal with these and related issues from a variety of theoretical and empirical perspectives. We particularly encourage submissions with a country-based focus. Contributions to this book may take a range of forms, may focus on different levels of analysis, and may employ both quantitative and qualitative approaches.

Submission Guidelines

·         Submission Deadline:             March 15, 2014. We welcome earlier submissions.

     First round of review for June 15, 2014

     Second round for September 15, 2014

     Delivery to Springer: October/November, 2014

·         Length: The book chapter should be approximately 6,000-7,000 words including any figures, tables and graphs

·         Format of the citations: Harvard Reference System

·         No. of authors: up to 5 co-authors

·         Review process: All submissions will be subject to in-depth review. Editor's requests will be communicated to authors about 4-5 weeks after full chapter manuscript is received.

·         Publication: Beginning of 2015.

We invite authors to email their book chapters to Professor Leo-Paul Dana (lp.dana@supco-montpellier.fr) and Asst. Prof. Dr. Veland Ramadani (v.ramadani@seeu.edu.mk)

References:
Alderson, J. K. (2011). Understanding the Family Business. New York: Business Expert Press.

Bowman-Upton, N. B. (2009). Transferring management in the family-owned business, U.S. Small Business Administration.

Brockhaus, R.H. (2004). Family Business Succession: Suggestions for Future Research, Family Business Review, 17(2), 165–177

Chua, J. H., Chrisman, J. J., & Sharma, P. (1999). Defining the Family Business by behavior. Entrepreneurship:Theory and Practice, 23 (4), 19-39

Duh, M., Tominc, P., & Rebernik, M. (2008), An Exploratory Comparison of Family and Nonfamily Enterprises in Transition Economies –The Case of Slovenia, Avaliable at: http://www.ecole-management-normandie.fr/journees_doriot/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Doriot2008_Duh_Tominc_Rebernik.pdf (Accessed: November 11, 2013)

Fattoum, S., & Fayolle, A. (2009), Generational Succession: Examples from Tunisian Family Firms, Journal of Enterprising Culture, 17 (2), 127–145

Hacker, J., & Dowling, M. (2012). Succession in Family Firms: How to Improve Family Satisfaction and Family Harmony, Int. J. Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 15(1), 76-99.

IFC. (2008). Family Business Governance Handbook. International Finance Corporation, Washington, DC.

IFERA (2003), Family Business Dominate, Family Business Review, 16(4), p. 235-239

Kellermanns, F.W., Eddleston, K.A., Barnett, T. & Pearson, A. (2008). An Exploratory Study of Family Member Characteristics And Involvement: Effects on Entrepreneurial Behavior in the Family Firm, Family Business Review, 21(1), 1–14.

Kuratko, D. K., & Hodgetts R. M. (2004). Entrepreneurship: Theory, Process & Practice, 6^th Edition. United States of America: Thomson South-Western.

Poza, J. E. (2012). Family Business, 3rd Edition, Mason: Thomson South-Western.