Let the Cork Fly: Creativity and Innovation in a Family Business

2014 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luísa Carvalho ◽  
Bill Williams

This case study explores the growth and internationalization of Pelcor, a traditional company situated in the remote south of Portugal. The Correia family has had a cork factory for over 40 years and they originally produced cork exclusively to sell to other companies. However, due to a crisis in their traditional markets at the turn of the century, a young woman entrepreneur introduced significant changes to the business. This case illustrates how a brand can be developed for international growth and expansion by a small family business. It also highlights the role of an entrepreneur in introducing modernity, innovation and product diversification to allow such a small family firm to reach global markets. Additionally, by using grades of cork that were formerly rejected as waste material, the firm has contributed significantly to the sustainability of this natural resource.

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Irfan Saleem ◽  
Faiza Khalid ◽  
Muhammad Nadeem

Learning outcomes This case study can help the reader to understand how to build an effective board for family business, and why evolving board structure can help family firm to sustain for a longer period in Market. Reader can also learn about role of independent director, CEO's Succession process and ways to deal with duality issue that family owned enterprise may face during a transition from generation X to Y. Case overview/synopsis This teaching case study describes various decision-making situations using example of a Pakistani family firm and entrepreneurs who started the business few decades back in France. This partially disguised case is based on actual events. The data are collected based on discussions with family business owners and minutes of meetings. The objective of study is to make sense of the family business theories e.g. socio emotional wealth stakeholder and agency. Case readers can also learn about the family’s business governance practices using diverse scenarios presented in this case. Complexity academic level This study is suitable for graduate and undergraduate studies. Supplementary materials Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email [email protected] to request teaching notes. Subject code CSS 7: Management science.


2020 ◽  
pp. 095624782095902
Author(s):  
Caroline O N Moser

This paper describes the role of intergenerational processes in increasing or reducing multidimensional inequality in Indio Guayas, a low-income peripheral settlement in Guayaquil, Ecuador. It also examines the importance of family social capital, irrespective of spatial location, as against household social capital in these processes. This longitudinal case study included a dataset on trends from 1978 through 1992 to 2004, in-depth studies over the decades, and further comparative research in 2018. The anthropological narrative is provided by the voices of three women and their families over 40 years. In 2018, interviews my son and I undertook for the documentary film Calle K demonstrated the importance of family social capital in the intergenerational reciprocity among mothers, daughters, fathers and sons, while illustrating different intergenerational trajectories addressing the challenges of inequality at this micro-level. The postscript points to the likely critical importance of family social capital in the context of the appalling COVID-19 pandemic.


Ethnologies ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 225-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoff Lightfoot ◽  
Valérie Fournier

Résumé This article explores how space gets mobilised in the performance of “family business”. The very concept of the “family business” collapses some deeply entrenched distinctions in Western modern societies, those between home and work, private and public, family life and business rationality, distinctions that are mapped over space through the creation of boundaries between work space and family space, home and office. The “family business”, especially when run from home, unsticks this ordered sense of space as familial images and business stages are collapsed. Our analysis of small family run boarding kennels focuses on the way space is used to frame different stages of action. In particular, we draw upon theatrical metaphors to explore the work that goes into the staging of identities and social relations. We first discuss the relationships between space, stages, performance and identity through a theatrical lens; we then draw upon material from our study of family run boarding kennels to explore how owner-managers use space as a malleable resource from which they carve out and assemble different stages to perform their business and themselves to different audiences. After going back into the theatre to discuss the role of stages in weaving together coherent stories in the family business or in drama, we close by exploring the limitations of the theatrical metaphor for the analysis of social life.


2009 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
John James Cater ◽  
Robert T. Justis

The purpose of this exploratory study was to better understand the development of successors in the small family business, including their approach to the leadership of the firm. It examined variables (and their relationships) that help to explain family business successor leadership. A case study approach was followed, using grounded theory analysis of qualitative interviews of the top managers of six family businesses. It provided six propositions for future research—namely, concerning positive parent—child relationships, acquiring knowledge, long-term orientation, cooperation, successor roles, and risk orientation.


Author(s):  
Jana Poláková ◽  
Gabriela Koláčková ◽  
Ivana Tichá

The paper deals with changes in performance level introduced by the change of business model. The selected case is a small family business undergoing through substantial changes in reflection of structural changes of its markets. The authors used the concept of business model to describe value creation processes within the selected family business and by contrasting the differences between value creation processes before and after the change introduced they prove the role of business model as the performance differentiator. This is illustrated with the use of business model canvas constructed on the basis interviews, observations and document analysis. The two business model canvases allow for explanation of cause-and-effect relationships within the business leading to change in performance. The change in the performance is assessed by financial analysis of the business conducted over the period of 2006–2012 demonstrates changes in performance (comparing development of ROA, ROE and ROS having their lowest levels before the change of business model was introduced, growing after the introduction of the change, as well as the activity indicators with similar developments) of the family business. The described case study contributes to the concept of business modeling with the arguments supporting its value as strategic tool facilitating decisions related to value creation within the business.


2013 ◽  
pp. 119-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naiara Escribá-Carda ◽  
María Teresa Canet-Giner ◽  
Francisco Balbastre-Benavent

Author(s):  
Mario J. Donate ◽  
Jesús D. Sánchez de Pablo ◽  
Fátima Guadamillas ◽  
María Isabel González-Ramos

In this chapter, the role of knowledge management strategies (KMS) in cooperation agreements is analyzed in a technology-intensive company. Knowledge management in alliances implies to establish an organizational design to both explore and exploit knowledge for achieving competitive goals (for each partner). The importance of alliances for technological companies and the necessity of designing suitable KMS in alliances—in terms of objectives and goals, knowledge management tools, and support systems—are explained first of all. Moreover, the analysis of a case study on KMS in the alliances of a high-tech Spanish company with businesses in innovation intensive settings is developed by the authors. Finally, this chapter will conclude with a discussion on the way that the implementation aspects concerning KMS in cooperation agreements have been managed by the company in order to support technology development and product diversification.


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