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Family Enterprise Research Conference 2014

Invitation from the Academic Program Chair, Alex Stewart

Friends of family enterprise research,

By now you will have seen the call for FERC, with terrific news about associated journals, prizes, and submission information. My invitation is a reminder of what makes FERC special and to introduce some of the innovations in this, the Tenth Anniversary meeting.

Why FERC?

FERC offers scholars at any career stage the opportunity to present their research for discussion and networking in a fun, multi-disciplinary, collaborative setting. FERC pursues development of world class research while enhancing scholars' careers. We do this is by;

·      Mingling to discuss poster presentations

·      Cash awards for best posters in various categories

·      Tips from journal editors on publishing

·      Attention to the practical applications of research

·      Access to top scholars from multiple disciplines

·      Offering potential publication in special issues of journals

Posters are not second-class means of presenting; in fact, they are the only means for presenting your research at FERC. When they are being posted and discussed, no other activities are underway. They are best suited for gaining feedback on work in its earlier stages. Reviewers will be asked to be as developmental and helpful as possible. More developed studies can be submitted for potential publication in special issues of journals.

Themes

All family business topics are welcome for poster submissions. Special themes of the meetings are presented instead by featured speakers. As this is the 10^th FERC meeting, one theme is taking stock of progress in our field. Therefore, two of the three featured plenary speakers are:

Ritch Sorenson, University of St. Thomas: What are the implications of "The Landscape of Family Business" for further advances in our field?

Pramodita Sharma, University of Vermont: what past and potential contributions has family firm research made for practitioners? How can its contributions be further developed?

Related to Professor Sharma's theme is a new development for FERC: a competition for best poster with practitioner implications, which will culminate in "pitches" by the finalists before a panel of judges – along the lines of Shark Tank ® and Dragon's Den ®. This should make for an entertaining opening reception, which will feature the third plenary speaker:

Jeffrey Newman is the first non-family CEO and President of Boyd's Coffee.  Boyd's was established in 1900 and continues today as an iconic Portland family-owned business.  Jeffrey has an extensive background in food-industry management, marketing, sales and operations, strategic planning, cross functional team building and the execution of profit-driven business plans.  He is working to grow the company and is serving as a mentor to three of the fourth generation family members who hold senior management positions in the business.

Prizes

The prizes for best posters are as follows:

Best practitioner-relevant poster for $6,000 from the Threshold Group.

Best poster awards (overall) for $3,500, from MCS Family Wealth Advisors.

Best poster in international entrepreneurship and family business for $1,000 from the ie-scholars network (ie-scholars.net).

Best poster on family business education for $500 from the Coleman Foundation Chair at Marquette University.

(The winners may have submitted as a poster or as a potential article – see below.)

Also, the winners of the Family-Owned Business Institute Awards by Grand Valley State University will be announced at FERC 2014. (The deadline for submissions to FOBI is February 28, 2014.)

Networking Events

Pre-conference family business winery tour at Sokol Blosser Winery and Stoller Family Estates (June 6^th)

Opening reception at the Nines – our lovely conference hotel.

Gala awards event with private use of the Portland Aerial Tram for FERC attendees.

Poster Submissions for Prizes

All poster submissions will be considered for the best poster award. If you wish your submission to be considered for either the teaching or the practitioner award, please include a paragraph (counted in the 500 work limit) explaining the relevance to either teaching or practice. In fact, I would encourage all submissions to have a paragraph on one or the other (or both).

Pre-conference Doctoral Student and Early Career Development Consortium

In this consortium some of the leading family business scholars will offer their advice. Topics covered will include: tips for publishing family business research, tackling a revise and resubmit, research and methodological trends, developing productive collaborations, and innovative teaching practices. The consortium is geared towards doctoral students, assistant professors, and anyone new to the family business field looking to improve their research and teaching skills. This consortium, led by Prof. Kim Eddleston, will be held on June 5. If you are interested in participating, please contact her at k.eddleston@neu.edu.