The strategic realignment of paradoxical family and business goals in family business
A rhetorical history perspective
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6043729 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Lara Pecis (0000-0002-2590-8942, Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, corresponding author), Bingbing Ge (0000-0002-8031-1188, Entrepreneurship and Strategy, Lancaster University Management School), Florian Bauer (0000-0002-5781-2718, University of Bristol Business School) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 67 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 577-607 |
| Publication date | 2025-02-17 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Business History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0007-6791 • E-ISSN: 1743-7938 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00076791.2024.2317938 |
| OpenAlex | W4392473387 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 86 |
Family firms are paradoxical by nature due to the interplay of two distinct goal systems: the family and the firm. These systems involve nested tensions that can create apparent paradoxes over time. Taking a rhetorical history lens, we explore how family firms can dynamically produce temporal equilibria between goal systems through the strategic use of history. Empirically, we investigate the emergence and development of two apparent paradoxes unfolding through the history of the growth of Alpha, an Italian family firm in the packaging industry. Our findings suggest that rhetorical history can alleviate the tensions emergent from the paradoxical goal systems of family businesses. Our research provides a unique contribution by revealing the emergence and agentic process of the co-construction of rhetorical history, which involves multiple agencies from both family and non-family employees. Moreover, such co-created rhetorical history can dynamically produce temporal equilibria in family business’s persistent paradoxical goal systems
Business · Business history · Economics · Family business · Linguistics · Management · Perspective (graphical) · Political science · Public relations · Rhetorical question · Entrepreneurship Studies and Influences · Family Business Performance and Succession · Marketing · Philosophy
Toward a Theory of Paradox
Entrepreneurial legacy
The Intersection of Organizational Identity, Knowledge, and Practice
Rhetorical history as a source of competitive advantage
Conceptualizing Historical Organization Studies
Collective Memory Meets Organizational Identity
Variations in R&D Investments of Family and Nonfamily Firms
Trends and Directions in the Development of a Strategic Management Theory of the Family Firm
Family Involvement, Family Influence, and Family–Centered Non–Economic Goals in Small Firms
Defining the Family Business by Behavior
Responding to competing strategic demands
Socioemotional Wealth in Family Firms
Seeking Qualitative Rigor in Inductive Research
A behavioral theory of the firm
Perceptions of organizational justice and commitment of non-family employees in family and non-family firms
From Reliable Sources
Sources of Police Stressors, Job Attitudes, and Psychological Distress
History as social memory assets
Learning to use the past
Operationalizing the Concepts of Goals and Goal Incompatibilities in Organizational Behavior Research
Organization Theory in Business and Management History
The strategic use of historical narratives
Writing business history
Historical Methods in the Social Sciences
History as Organizing
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |