Family and Owner-Managed Companies Books

Book SynopsisFrom Victoria Glendinning, winner of the Duff Cooper Prize, the James Tait Black Prize and (twice) the Whitbread Prize for Biography.It'sSuccessionin tailcoats and spats This is a vivid and eye-opening group biography, backgrounded by the rise of supermarket moguls from humble beginnings' Sunday TimesWho was John Lewis? What story lies behind the retail empire that bears his name? Behind the glass windows and displays of soft furnishing, this book reveals the family that founded the shops in all their eccentricities, and whose relationships became blighted by conflicts of epic proportions as their wealth bloomed.Born into poverty, John Lewis was orphaned at the age of seven when his father died in a Somerset workhouse. Dreaming of a better life, the young man travelled to London at the start of what would become a retail revolution. From early years as a draper's apprentice, we see how Lewis's first pokey little business opened on Oxford Street in 1864, and expanded as an emerging midTrade Review‘The store that changed shopping was built by a dynasty whose secrets, fights and feuds would have made gripping TV drama … Victoria Glendinning is an eminent literary biographer whose subjects include Vita Sackville-West and Edith Sitwell. So what possessed her to write about a 157-year-old commercial enterprise famous for affordable haberdashery, wedding-list glassware and cute Christmas TV commercials? The answer lies in the subtitle: Glendinning’s story of the Lewis dynasty is extremely “intimate” — a saga of family fights and obsessions, epic stand-offs and wild ambitions, stressed-out womenfolk and unhappy children. It’s Succession in tailcoats and spats … This is a vivid and eye-opening group biography, backgrounded by the rise of supermarket moguls from humble beginnings’John Walsh, Sunday Times ‘You’ll never look at John Lewis in the same away after reading this compelling survey of the family behind the department store … Glendinning’s fascination is contagious, and she blends in the ingredients of a family saga with insights into the partnership’s ethical underpinnings, acknowledging the romance of golden-age bricks-and-mortar retail as well as its uncertain future’Observer ‘She brings the Lewis family to life with wry commentary and telling detail’Financial Times ‘Lucky John Lewis. As company histories go, nobody could wish for a more skilful chronicler than Victoria Glendinning, who has a slew of biographies to her name. She calls her work an ‘intimate history’, and indeed it is full of domestic rows, curious relationships … [It offers] careful documentation of a remarkable retail experiment’Literary Review

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Book SynopsisThis book pursues an interdisciplinary approach to studying family firms as a particular type of business strongly embedded in the territories in which they are located. Featuring an in-depth analysis of original research, the book employs both theoretical and empirical approaches to explore family firms and their relationships with their home territories. The book shows that family firms have unique bonds with their local areas, and these bonds profoundly shape their decision-making and outcomes.The book addresses two research questions, namely, how the connections between family firms and their home territories originate and develop, and how they influence firms’ economic performance and their corporate social responsibility initiatives. Uniquely, it seeks to develop an integrated framework that brings together family firms, local contexts, and places while also presenting new empirical evidence of relevance to scholars, managers, and policymakers alike. In addition, the book responds to the need for a greater understanding of what anchors entrepreneurial families to their home territories and the conditioning effect of local roots on such firms’ behavior.Table of ContentsIntroduction.- Defining and Understanding the Family Firm.- The Spatial Dimension of Firm’s Economic Activity.- Firms in Territories: the Local Roots of Family Firms.- Family Firms, Corporate Social Responsibility and Place-Based Enterprises.- Unveiling the Origins of Local Roots: A Case Study in the Chianti Classico Wine Cluster.- The Role of Local Roots on the Economic Performance and Corporate Social Responsibility of Family Firms: a Quantitative Analysis.- Conclusions

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Book SynopsisIn this eye-opening and engaging book, founder and chief executive of REAL Success, Paul Harris, examines some of the hard truths and challenges behind why so many farm owners and managers struggle to maintain a thriving, happy and loyal workforce. The lessons and learning uncovered throughout this captivating story will help you think differently about your team and your role as a leader. Whether you’re working with family members, long-term employees or casual hired hands, you’ll see how careful listening and communication, as well as embracing the diversity and difference in your team, are key to creating a happy, supportive and successful working environment for everyone involved. Tensions and conflicts are rising on Peter’s farm, putting team and family dynamics under enormous pressure. Then a potentially devastating event forces everyone to reflect on their beliefs and attitudes. With help from the enigmatic ‘Chairman’ and driven by Peter’s wife’s deep desire to keep the family together and their business alive, the whole team comes together on an odyssey of change that will transform them, the farm and everyone’s future. Throughout the story you’ll discover insights and takeaways about how small changes in style and slight shifts in mindset can make a huge difference to the success of your team and how they feel about working with you, putting you, your farm and your team on course to a brighter future.Trade Review“A simple story with a powerful message.” Mike King – farm owner, Two Pools Farm“This story is typical of many farming families and teams.” Austin Knowles - farm owner, Hollings Hill Farm“This may be the making of your business. Read the story with an open mind to understand your team and your family.” Rupert Major - farm owner, Major Farming

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Book SynopsisThe ebook edition of this title is Open Access and freely available to read online. Family constitutions in family-owned firms are becoming increasingly popular around the world. While some, though not much, research examining this trend has come from a management research perspective, legal scholarship of family constitutions is even scarcer. The first volume of this new series brings together chapters from the ‘Law and Management of Family Firms’ conference which took place at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law, Hamburg, presenting legal, managerial, historical and comparative perspectives of family constitutions. Family Firms and Family Constitution delves deeply into topics as diverse as ownership, succession, governance, justice and more, all from a managerial and legal perspective from around the world. The pioneering Law and Management of Family Firms series publishes volumes following the annual Hamburg Conference: Law and Management of Family Firms, the international and interdisciplinary forum for family business research. The conference is organized by the Max Planck Institute and the Institute for Mittelstand and Family Firms (HSBA Hamburg School of Business Administration). It brings together two distinct and previously disconnected disciplines of law and management, benefiting scholars, lawyers, consultants, and family office practitioners.Table of ContentsPart 1. Legal and Managerial Foundations Chapter 1. Family Companies and Family Constitutions: Historical and Comparative Perspectives; Holger Fleischer Chapter 2. Family Firms and Family Constitution – A Management Perspective; Stefan Prigge and Katharina J. Mengers Chapter 3. Discussion Report Part 1: Legal and Managerial Foundations; Felix Thiele Part 2. Managerial Research I: Conceptual and Qualitative Analyses Chapter 4. A Receiver Approach to Governance in Family Firms: The Role of Justice Perceptions; Isabel C. Botero and Tomasz A. Fediuk Chapter 5. Family Governance in Practice: Lessons Learned from a 100-Year-Old Entrepreneurial Family Firm; Ilse Matser, Rachel Heeringa, and Jan Willem van der Vloot van Vliet Chapter 6. Managing Dispersed Ownership within the Owner Family: The Role of Family Governance; Lena Jungell Chapter 7. Analysis of Critical Incidents for the Design of the Governance System; Hermut Kormann Chapter 8. Discussion Report Part 2: Managerial Research I: Conceptual and Qualitative Analyses; Julia Mara Rückert and Felix Thiele Part 3. Managerial Research II: Survey and Quantitative Analyses Chapter 9. An Examination of the Relationship between Governance Mechanisms and Performance: Evidence from the Australian Family Business Context ; Chris Graves, Donella Caspersz, and Jill Thomas Chapter 10. The Family Constitution as an Instrument of Corporate Governance in Family-Owned Companies; Patrick Ulrich and Sarah Speidel Chapter 11. Discussion Report Part 3: Managerial Research II: Survey and Quantitative Analyses; Felix Thiele Part 4. Legal Research Chapter 12. Facets of Family Constitutions: Conceptual Origins, Practical Approaches and Legal Implications; Sebastian Bong Chapter 13. Discussion Report Part 4: Legal Research I; Holger Fleischer Chapter 14. Succession in Family Businesses – Legal Frameworks; Susanne Kalss Chapter 15. Family Firms and Family Constitutions in France – A General Overview; Katrin Deckert Chapter 16. Discussion Report Part 4: Legal Research II; Holger Fleischer Chapter 17. Family Constitutions and the Complexity of Family Businesses from a Counsel´s Point of View; Lorenz Holler Chapter 18. Discussion Report Part 4: Legal Research III; Holger Fleischer Part 5. Conclusion Chapter 19. Directions for Future Research; Holger Fleischer and Stefan Prigge

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