Role of the board of directors in the strategic renewal of later-generation family firms

Abstract

While focusing on tradition and continuity can offer advantages for family firms, it can also incite complacency, making a strategic renewal challenging. During periods of strategic transition, the members of the board of directors can play a significant role in a company’s decision-making. In later-generation family firms, the owners often participate in a family firm by serving on the board while non-family board members are appointed to advise management. However, there is still a limited understanding of how the members of the board of directors influence the strategic renewal of a family firm.

The first section of this dissertation provides an overview of its theoretical basis, methodological aspects, results and conclusions. The second part comprises four published articles forming the empirical base for the results and conclusions.

The study adopts a qualitative research approach to offer a unique lens for understanding the dynamics of the members of the senior-most decision-making body of a firm—the board of directors—during a family firm renewal. It makes several contributions. First, this study provides evidence that by properly timing their influence, owners can act as a resource and help to trigger change. Second, this study demonstrates how the role, content, intensity and locus of non-family board members’ advice can evolve during the renewal process. Third, it demonstrates that the informal dyadic interaction between the non-family CEO, non-family chair of the board and family firm owners can offer the chair and owners privileged access to influence the content of board decisions.

In addition to its theoretical contributions, the study provides practical recommendations for those involved with family firms attempting a strategic renewal.