Family Owned Business Institute

Research Scholar's Abstracts 2005 - James Davis, H. Hayes, Steven McClure

Commitment as a Competitive Advantage in Family Business
James H. Davis,H. David Hayes, Steven McClure
2005

A commonly held belief by those involved with family business is that they have a significant advantage because of the "family culture" inherent in the enterprise. Several scholars have argued that culture is the only sustainable competitive advantage for a firm. Because a family business culture is thought to have highly committed, dedicated family workforce, family business performance should be enhanced. Despite the advantage, it seems that the family culture diminishes as the business matures, the family grows, and with family succession. This research examines how one aspect of culture, family member commitment to the business, changes by context. The research will test not only the strength of business-owning family members' commitment to the business across two or three generations but will also determine the genesis of that commitment on a continuum from continuance to shared values looking at the firm performance as the determinant of success.