ABSTRACT
In his classic work, Joseph Schumpeter described technological innovation as ‘creative destruction’ (1942) for the economy. The creation of new technology would be the basis of growth for emerging companies and would lead to the destruction of other companies if they failed to adapt to these advances. The development of information technology over the last 30-40 years has led to many examples of such creative destruction. Another aspect of studying technological innovation is to observe how big companies innovate. It is often assumed that the greater the amount of money a mature company uses on research and development (R&D), the more likely they are to be technologically innovative. It is often assumed that family owners are less likely to invest in technological innovation as they are risk averse and conservative. Contrary to this assumption, De Massis, Frattini, and Lichtenthaler (2012) found that family involvement as owners and leaders directly influenced the use of, and investment in, R&D. This innovation has had a positive impact on leadership in product development and an increase in the number of innovations. It is often suggested that the family will identify with the past and its products and traditions, and be driven to protect this, the owners’ aspiration being to protect their socioemotional wealth (Gómez-Mejía et al., 2007) resulting in reduced drive for technological innovation. In this case, we will explore a family whose tradition is to constantly improve and be technological innovators as a part of enhancing their socio-emotional wealth.
