ABSTRACT
Promoting family business and understanding its dynamics became a popular theme of research during the past decade. However, family business research has more often focused on the firm than on the family. The main interest has been success and management succession in family firms (Dyer, 1986; Cromie and Adams, 1997; Gersick et al., 1997). It seems that the concept of ‘family’ has seldom been defined or problematised in these studies as if it were something that naturally and neutrally represents a reality shared and understood by all of us. Seeing the ‘family’ in family business as a non-cultural, non-historical, apolitical, or even a non-emotional entity has serious consequences for our ability to understand how family and business influence one another in different societal and cultural settings.
