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Small and Family Business Sustainability and Resilience

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 June 2022) | Viewed by 16566

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Prof. Maria I Marshall

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Guest Editor

Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47909, USA
Interests: Small Business, Family Business, Disaster Recovery, Family Business Sustainability, Resilience, Small and Family Business Management

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Small and family businesses play an important role in economic development worldwide. Small businesses and family businesses are the subject of research on many fronts, but there is insufficient research with respect to their place in rural community sustainability, recovery, and resilience particularly after normative and non-normative events (for example, natural disasters). Using a systems perspective requires looking at theses businesses through the many interconnecting decisions that business owners and communities make. The decisions that community leaders make affect the decisions and sustainability of businesses and vice versa. These decisions include every step of the process toward restoring the business back to its “original” state. Moreover, there is scant research on the recovery and resilience of women and minority owned small businesses after non-normative events. The broad goal of this special issue is to enhance our understanding of small and family business sustainability and resilience broadly defined.

This Special Issue has two aims. The first is to augment the understanding of key vulnerabilities of small and family businesses that are barriers to sustainability, resilience, and success. The second is to encourage contributions focused on the adjustments that small businesses and family businesses make to reach sustainability and resilience.

Prof. Maria I Marshall
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

Small Business Sustainability
Family Business Sustainability
Family Business Success
Small Business Success
Business Disaster Recovery
Business Resilience
Adaptive Capacity

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

10 pages, 906 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Does COVID-19 Change CSR? A Family Business Perspective

by Elena Rivo-López, Mónica Villanueva-Villar, Sofía Novoa-Santos and María Isabel Doval-Ruiz

Sustainability 2021, 13(24), 13954; https://doi.org/10.3390/su132413954 - 17 Dec 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2088

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyze the #Damos La Cara (“Let’s show our face”) initiative, which is an initiative promoted by the Instituto de la Empresa Familiar, the most representative organization of family businesses in Spain. This analysis allowed us to characterize the Spanish family business and to analyze their reactions and interventions in the face of the crisis posed by COVID-19 from the perspective of CSR. The methodology used consisted of a content analysis, viewing 127 videos wherein family members presented their companies and the activities carried out to improve their relations with their employees and their environment. The conclusions reached allowed us to affirm that they were mostly second- and third-generation companies from the manufacturing sector; the most repeated actions were social commitment to their workers (internal) and the donation of medical materials (corporate). To the best of our knowledge, this was the first time that an analysis of these characteristics had been carried out in the field of family businesses. This analysis showed the intense philanthropic activity carried out by Spanish family businesses, not only in emergencies but also as a regular activity and as a consequence of their values and long-term vision. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Small and Family Business Sustainability and Resilience)

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21 pages, 1463 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Specificity of Family Firms Providing Accommodation Services—The Experience of a Post-Socialist Country 30 Years after the Economic Transformation

by Hanna Górska-Warsewicz, Maciej Dębski, Krystyna Rejman and Wacław Laskowski

Sustainability 2020, 12(24), 10404; https://doi.org/10.3390/su122410404 - 12 Dec 2020

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1819

Abstract

This study aimed to analyze the conditions and specificity of family firms (FFs) providing accommodation services in Poland 30 years after the beginning of economic changes. The research was carried out between 2017 and 2018 using the Computer-Assisted Website Interview (CAWI) method. In two stages of research, a total of 1300 questionnaires were sent to FFs providing accommodation services, and we received 83 fully completed questionnaires. This response rate indicates that there is still a lack of trust among FFs as a result of the activities of the socialist economy, which was negative towards private property. The respondents were generally business owners, but several questionnaires were completed by other members of the families running an accommodation service business. All companies participating in the survey provided their services in small towns or rural areas. In the structure of the surveyed FFs by type, guesthouses and lodgings had the largest share, and, in terms of location, FFs from the southern part of the country dominated. We found out that familiarity is an important feature of the Polish FFs providing accommodation services. The majority of FF representatives agreed that focusing on the specifics of family business allows them to compete with companies providing accommodation services. They also pointed out the long-term perspective of business and development and the provision of high-quality services. Such an approach is now possible because the period of a centrally planned economy had to be followed by a change in the way of thinking related to business activity in Poland. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Small and Family Business Sustainability and Resilience)

18 pages, 298 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Immigrant Entrepreneurship in Sweden: The Liability of Newness

by Henrik Barth and Ghazal Zalkat

Sustainability 2020, 12(16), 6478; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12166478 - 11 Aug 2020

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 4732

Abstract

Immigrant entrepreneurs face many challenges in the various early phases of their companies’ existence. These challenges are often referred to as “the liability of newness”. While some of these challenges are common to all entrepreneurs, the immigrant entrepreneur has an additional set of challenges. This article describes those challenges in the immigrant entrepreneurial experience in the Swedish agri-food industry. A qualitative research design is used. Interviews were conducted with 25 immigrant entrepreneurs who planned a business, had started a business, or had exited a business. Various websites and tax reports provided secondary data. The research, which covered a two-year time frame, identifies the strategies and actions the immigrant entrepreneurs adopted and used to try to overcome those challenges. The following strategies and actions were identified: use of business support, virtual embeddedness, family and ethnic groups, entrepreneurial experience, and niche markets. The companies in which the entrepreneurs recognized the gravity of those challenges early in their life cycle were more likely to survive beyond the start-up phase. The article, which also reviews much of the current literature on immigrant entrepreneurship, has implications for business support advisory services and policymakers who are involved in the effort to achieve economic (and social-cultural) integration of immigrants into their host countries. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Small and Family Business Sustainability and Resilience)

21 pages, 1078 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Sink or Swim? Impacts of Management Strategies on Small Business Survival and Recovery

by Maria I. Marshall and Holly L. Schrank

Sustainability 2020, 12(15), 6229; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12156229 - 03 Aug 2020

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 4366

Abstract

The rate of small business demise is exacerbated by exogenous events such as natural disasters that threaten even the healthiest business. This study focused on the effects of management strategies used by small business owners affected by a natural disaster and the resulting recovery status eight years after Hurricane Katrina. The results indicate that location, human resource, and financial management decisions affect operating status and recovery. Both pre-and post-disaster strategies and across system exchanges were utilized and predicted survival and recovery, e.g., financial managerial strategies utilized post disaster predicted whether a business would fully recover, but effective overall management strategies differed over time and operating category. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Small and Family Business Sustainability and Resilience)

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14 pages, 388 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Reciprocal Involvement of Family Business Owners and Communities in Business Success

by Jennifer Johnson Jorgensen, Diane Masuo, Linda Manikowske and Yoon Lee

Sustainability 2020, 12(10), 4048; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12104048 - 15 May 2020

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2572

Abstract

It is believed that highly involved business owners and community members will yield benefits to ensure business and community sustainability over time. However, little research has delved into understanding the role of business owners’ involvement and the community’s involvement in business outcomes. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate the reciprocal involvement of family business owners and the community. To investigate this phenomenon, this study utilized survey data from a rare group of business owners who currently operate long-standing businesses. Results indicate that more involved business owners perceived higher levels of business success. When seeking a profit, business owners also tended to be more involved in the community than owners not seeking a profit. However, family-owned businesses felt that the community did not contribute to their businesses and did not stay involved over time. Overall, business owners felt that they contributed more than the community provided in return. Recommendation is made to stress in entrepreneurship curricula the importance of reciprocal involvement between businesses and their communities and vice versa to promote business and community sustainability over time. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Small and Family Business Sustainability and Resilience)

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