The interplay of tacit and explicit knowledge in the informal economy: the atypical case of a recycling family business in Mexico City

2021 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-31
Author(s):  
Louise Guibrunet
Keyword(s):  
Mexico City ◽  
Family Business ◽  
Informal Economy ◽  
Explicit Knowledge ◽  
Family Businesses ◽  
Atypical Case ◽  
Micro Scale ◽  
Types Of Knowledge ◽  
Use Of Knowledge ◽  
Tacit And Explicit Knowledge

How does the informal economy innovate? Innovation depends, in part, on the generation and use of distinct types of knowledge. Yet, very little is known on the use of knowledge within the informal economy. Focusing on the micro-scale of informal family businesses, this article documents the case of a recyclables shop in Mexico City, and explores how knowledge is used to develop innovative practices. This case is atypical, at least with respect to similar shops in its neighbourhood, as innovation results from the use of both tacit and explicit knowledge. This article reflects on the interplay of both types of knowledge and the implications for fostering innovation in the informal economy.

scholarly journals Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability in a Hospitality Family Business

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 7091
Author(s):  
Ana Paula Fonseca ◽  
Sandro Carnicelli
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Organizational Learning ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Family Business ◽  
Action Learning ◽  
Family Businesses ◽  
Bottom Line ◽  
Hospitality Sector ◽  
Corporate Social

The triple bottom line of sustainability has been the foundation to assess the overall performance of organizations in the hospitality sector. Family businesses are operating in a very competitive environment, and their practices are heavily scrutinised by stakeholders. This paper considers the value of action research in the field of family businesses in the hospitality sector through the prism of organizational learning. The focus of the research is to understand how a Scottish family business learns and implements corporate social responsibility and sustainability practices and how they embed the practices in their activities in a bed and breakfast. The family business used in this research is based in Paisley, Scotland. The use of action research enabled this research to follow a recurring spiral learning process of diagnosing, planning, acting, and evaluating to achieve organizational learning. The action learning contributed to re-thinking the communication between actors involved in the Scottish hospitality sector and family businesses to open a dialogue and produce norms and to contribute to knowledge about a new small-business social responsibility orbital framework.

Use of Knowledge Management Systems and the Impact on the Acquisition of Explicit Knowledge

2008 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 77-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holli McCall ◽  
Vicky Arnold ◽  
Steve G. Sutton
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Knowledge Acquisition ◽  
Reference Materials ◽  
Explicit Knowledge ◽  
Experimental Methodology ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Knowledge Management Systems ◽  
Use Of Knowledge ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACT: In an era where knowledge is increasingly seen as an organization's most valuable asset, many firms have implemented knowledge-management systems (KMS) in an effort to capture, store, and disseminate knowledge across the firm. Concerns have been raised, however, about the potential dependency of users on KMS and the related potential for decreases in knowledge acquisition and expertise development (Cole 1998; Alavi and Leidner 2001b; O'Leary 2002a). The purpose of this study, which is exploratory in nature, is to investigate whether using KMS embedded with explicit knowledge impacts novice decision makers' judgment performance and knowledge acquisition differently than using traditional reference materials (e.g., manuals, textbooks) to research and solve a problem. An experimental methodology is used to study the relative performance and explicit knowledge acquisition of 188 participants partitioned into two groups using either a KMS or traditional reference materials in problem solving. The study finds that KMS users outperform users of traditional reference materials when they have access to their respective systems/materials, but the users of traditional reference materials outperform KMS users when respective systems/materials are removed. While all users improve interpretive problem solving and encoding of definitions and rules, there are significant differences in knowledge acquisition between the two groups.

The innovation and internationalisation processes of family businesses

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vitor Braga ◽  
Aldina Correia ◽  
Alexandra Braga ◽  
Sofia Lemos
Keyword(s):  
Family Business ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Family Businesses ◽  
Family Management ◽  
Multivariate Statistic ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Business Innovation ◽  
The Family ◽  
Internationalisation Strategies ◽  
Innovation Processes

Purpose The success of the family firms cannot be detached from the current paradigm where, within the present economic conditions, economic agents struggle to exploit the existing opportunities and need to take into account the risks associated to the international arena and the innovation processes. The internationalisation and innovation processes may trigger resistance within family business due to their relatively higher difficulty to take risks and to invest in industries outside the scope of their original core business. Innovation and internationalisation processes become relevant strategies for the family firms’ continuity and success. In line with such fact, the aim of this paper is to contribute with insights regarding the processes of innovation and internationalisation within family businesses. In particular, this paper aims to assess the propensity of such firms to apply such strategies, to identify the particular business behaviour and to assess the extent to which the particulars of family firms may constraint or lead to the implementation of innovation policies, and thus its internationalisation. Design/methodology/approach The data were collected through questionnaires within family business aiming to understand the scope and characteristics of internationalisation and innovation processes within these firms. The 154 replies from such data collection were analysed using different multivariate statistic procedures, although this paper is based on factorial and correlation analysis. Findings The analysis of the results shows that there is an association between the processes of innovation and internationalisation within family business. In addition, the results also suggest a typology of firms regarding their innovation and internationalisation strategies and motivations. Research limitations/implications The results of this paper are, to some extent, limited because they did not allow comparing the findings with data from non-family business. However, the authors’ aim was not to distinguish family firms, but rather to characterise them. Practical implications This paper expects to contribute with lessons for the management of family business and to raise awareness of the constraints faced by family business. It is important to highlight that family business performance may be affected by a lower propensity to risk-taking attitudes, by the lack of non-family management and to the necessity of separating the family and the business in the business dimensions that the family limits the business growth. Originality/value Although there is a significant amount of the literature devoted to explore family business, innovation and internationalisation studies, very few draw on the relationship between internationalisation and innovation processes within family business. This paper explores such a relationship within a particular business context – the family dynamics that strongly affect management and business development.

scholarly journals Entrepreneurial orientation in family firms – management and intercultural development

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (4-1) ◽  
pp. 181-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wioletta Czemiel-Grzybowska
Keyword(s):  
Family Business ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Family System ◽  
Open Systems ◽  
Family Businesses ◽  
Intercultural Development ◽  
System Perspective ◽  
Business Context ◽  
Systems Perspective ◽  
Business System

AbstractThis paper has taken an insight to the systemic models of family business from the open systems perspective. I focus on family business system models and on the subsystems content of family system and ownership system in family business context. The paper claim that the open system perspective on intercultural family businesses has both theoretical and empirical implications on family business research. Family businesses have many reasons, including family conflicts over money, nepotism leading to wrong management, and infighting over the succession of power from one generation to the other. Regulating the family’s roles as shareholders, board members, and managers is very important because it can help avoid these pitfalls. This paper will discuss the importance of the openness of the company through five the attributes of enduring family businesses: ownership, family, business and portfolio governance, wealth management, foundation. Dimension of attributes success have taken family business like five jewelers.

Outside Boards and Family Businesses: Another Look

1991 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 269-285 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc A. Schwartz ◽  
Louis B. Barnes
Keyword(s):  
Family Business ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Family Businesses ◽  
Board Members ◽  
Careful Selection ◽  
Business Week

The debate over the usefulness of outside board members in family businesses goes on. Two of the three empirical studies on this issue tend to disagree on their value. Using a sample of 262 family business firms, drawn from the Business Week Newsletter for Family-Owned Businesses, this study surveyed CEOs to learn of their attitudes toward inside and outside board members. The findings strongly support the inclusion of outsiders and suggest that the more outside board members the better and the more inside family members the worse, but only where CEO desire, careful selection, and shared expectations are part of that outsider membership.

Institutional complexity and family business development: a case study of the Charoen Pokphand group

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bo Wang ◽  
Qiang Liang ◽  
Lihong Song ◽  
Erming Xu
Keyword(s):  
Family Business ◽  
Family Values ◽  
Family Businesses ◽  
Chinese Family ◽  
Overseas Chinese ◽  
Institutional Complexity ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Equal Importance ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Dominant Period

Purpose With features of both “family” and “business,” family businesses must seek a balance between the emotional aspect of “family” and the economic aspect of “business” in its organizational and decision-making processes to ensure the sustainability of the family’s entrepreneurship. This study aims to focus on how internal institutional complexity combined evolves alongside the growth of the family business. Design/methodology/approach The research looks, from the perspective of institutional logic, into the Charoen Pokphand Group, which is an epitome of overseas Chinese family businesses and proceeds to build a model of family business growth in the context of institutional complexity. Findings The research finds that as a family business grows, institutional complexity inside the organization would change from aligned period to sustaining period and then to dominant period. Then further elucidates the process of proactive response in different stages of the development of a family business. Attaching equal importance to the cultivation of entrepreneurship and to the continuation of family values and culture is the crucial mechanism by which Chinese family businesses seek a balance between family logic and business logic. Originality/value This paper unveils the change of institutional complexity in the evolution of family businesses and the process of action of its agency as an organization, and simultaneously partly reveals the features of entrepreneurship that overseas Chinese family businesses have as they grew, which is of positive significance for exploring and building a path of growth unique to Chinese family businesses.

Family succession, professionalization and internationalization: a study of Brazilian family businesses

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Augusto Dalmoro Costa ◽  
Aurora Carneiro Zen ◽  
Everson dos Santos Spindler
Keyword(s):  
Family Business ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Family Businesses ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Family ◽  
Two Generations ◽  
Internationalization Strategies ◽  
The Relationship

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between family succession, professionalization and internationalization in family businesses within the Brazilian context.Design/methodology/approachThe paper presents a multiple-case study method with three Brazilian family businesses that have at least two generations of the owning family involved in the business and an international presence of at least three years. In-depth interviews and secondary data were undertaken with family and non-family members of each case.FindingsThe authors' results show that a family business can boost its internationalization by introducing both succession planning and professionalization on international activities. As family members tend to be more risk-averse and focused on keeping the family business within the family, professionalization is a way of improving the firm's ability to expand internationally. This process tends to lead to lower performance by the firm for the first few months or the first year after the investment, but afterward, international performance tends to grow exponentially.Originality/valueOnly a few studies have been concerned on the relationship of these three dimensions. Thus, the research takes into account that professionalization and succession lead family businesses to improve their internationalization strategies.

Professional Management in Family Businesses: Toward an Extended Understanding

2008 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annika Hall ◽  
Mattias Nordqvist
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Competence ◽  
Family Business ◽  
Cultural Theory ◽  
Business Management ◽  
Family Businesses ◽  
Business Research ◽  
Dominant Meaning ◽  
Case Research ◽  
Professional Management ◽  
Family Membership

Our purpose is to challenge the dominant meaning of professional management in family business research and to suggest an extended understanding of the concept. Based on a review of selected literature on professional management and with insights from cultural theory and symbolic interactionism, we draw on interpretive case research to argue that professional family business management rests on two competencies, formal and cultural, of which only the former is explicitly recognized in current family business literature. We elaborate on the meanings and implications of cultural competence and argue that without it a CEO of a family business is likely to work less effectively, no matter how good the formal qualifications and irrespective of family membership.

Women in Family Businesses: Challenges and Opportunities

1990 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matilde Salganicoff
Keyword(s):  
Family Business ◽  
Family Businesses ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities

Women have particular qualities that can be vital to the survival and success of a family business. Those who work in and for family businesses need to be aware, however, of the dilemmas and conflicts that affect women. The author advocates the opening of more opportunities for women in family business for the benefit of both the woman and the business.

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