Högskolan i Skövde

Purpose:

The purpose of this paper is to explore and understand how family firms manage a crisis by applying a processual and longitudinal perspective. The objective is to find out how crisis management is approached by family firms in Sweden, Scotland and Germany, using entrepreneurial orientation (EO) as an analytical lens. Further, this paper investigates the role of the owning family in creating and solving a crisis in family firms.

Design/methodology/approach:

This study follows a processual and longitudinal case study approach. Cases are drawn from Germany, Scotland and Sweden. Data collection is based on a combination of interviews with archival data such as annual reports and press clippings.

Findings:

The results show that all studied firms had high levels of autonomy combined with high risk-taking. It is noteworthy, that these dimensions also help to overcome the crisis. Risk-taking and proactiveness can be useful for addressing the crisis. Under certain circumstances, even innovativeness can help to develop new offers. Autonomy is considered central in family firms and only extraordinary circumstances can be owning families make willing to compromise on it. The EO-dimensions are not all relevant at all times. Rather, family firms will emphasize the dimensions during the consecutive stages differently.

Originality/value:

This study compares case companies from Germany, Scotland and Sweden and how EO contributes to their crisis management by taking a longitudinal and processual perspective. Its originality lies in the in-depth studies of companies from three countries.