Salvatore Sciascia

ESG practices offer various benefits for family firms; however, there has been limited focus on how these practices can specifically advantage the owning family. To address this gap, we conduct a multiple-case study of six Italian family firms. Responding to recent calls for research (Stock et al., 2024) and building on the growing literature on ESG in family business, we adopt the family as the primary unit of analysis and investigate the outcomes that the owning family derives from the firm's ESG practices. Our findings reveal that engagement in ESG fosters a set of interrelated, family-level outcomes. We conceptualize these outcomes as Continuity, Alignment, Relationships, and Ethics (summarized as C.A.R.E.), four concepts that are reinforced, nurtured, and developed through sustained ESG engagement. These concepts together function as key intangible resources that contribute to the long-term success of family businesses.

This study investigates how successors, by acting entrepreneurially, contribute to family firm transgenerational value creation. By focusing on the transgenerational value creation process, we investigate transgenerational entrepreneurship in family businesses under successor leadership. Employing a multiple case study approach, we analyse 15 Italian family firms, based on direct interviews, follow-ups, field observations, and approximately 300 historical documents spanning the period 1894 to 2023. Our findings reveal how individual, contextual, business, and familial drivers, alone or in combination, point to various pathways influencing entrepreneurial outcomes, thereby reflecting the diverse forms of successor entrepreneurship. Specifically, we develop a taxonomy comprising five entrepreneurial profiles: revolutioner, orchestrator, venturer, renewer, and improver. Our findings offer novel insights into the family business and entrepreneurship literature, along with practical implications and potential contributions to regional development.

Since its inception, research on Integrated Reporting (IR) has progressed along multiple paths. Yet two critical questions remain underexplored: (1) whether the quality—rather than mere adoption—of IR is value relevant, and (2) how the legal environment might moderate this relationship. This study addresses these gaps using a panel dataset of 78 IR adopters, identified as leading practices by the International Integrated Reporting Council, over the 2017–2020 period. The findings contribute to the IR literature in two ways. First, building on the relatively underexplored theoretical perspective of proprietary cost theory, this study integrates it with agency theory to analyze the impact of IR disclosure quality. The study shows that IR quality has a positive association with firm value, illustrating that quality matters above and beyond adoption alone. Second, the study complements agency theory with neo-institutional theory to further investigate the relationship between IR disclosure quality and capital market outcomes. Results demonstrate that this relationship is moderated by the legal context: it is stronger in countries (a) where IR is voluntary and (b) with civil law legal systems. These insights suggest that regulators should not only encourage IR adoption but also nudge higher-quality disclosures. Aware of these benefits, managers may further fine-tune IR quality to maximize its impact on the firm’s market value.

Exploring the intricacies of heterogeneity in tax avoidance practices within family firms, a growing trend acknowledges the significant role of chief executive officers (CEOs) in setting the ethical tone and shaping corporate tax strategies. However, these studies often overlook the influence of the CEO’s transgenerational orientation, which becomes crucial when assessing ethics in family businesses. Therefore, the paper aims to analyse to what extent the CEO’s transgenerational responsibility (the moral obligation that incumbent leaders have vis-à-vis next generation family members) affects tax avoidance with a utilitarianism lens. Relying on a sample of 272 firm-year observations of Italian listed family companies along the period 2014–2018, the panel regression model finds a positive relationship. Moreover, the involvement in the business of the next generation of family members strengthens this relationship, suggesting that the immediate proximity with other relatives fosters the conversion of the CEO’s transgenerational responsibility into tax avoidance practices. Finally, when the family firm is in financial distress, CEOs with greater transgenerational responsibility tend to avoid more taxes.

While tax avoidance has attracted scholarly and policy interest over the years, its peculiarities in family business are far from being completely understood. Motivated by the growing attention to family firms' tax-saving strategies, this paper aims to critically and systematically review the 42 articles on tax avoidance in family businesses published up to June 2024. The study organises the literature upon four levels of analysis and offers future research avenues to move our knowledge on the topic forward.

Wars have always impacted society and economies. Today, more than ever, recent geopolitical tensions and armed conflicts – such as the Russo-Ukrainian war and the Arab-Israeli conflict – are affecting the global landscape, with effects reverberating to both local and worldwide economies, affecting business survival and their societal responsibilities. Businesses are presented with unique challenges for firms. Consequently, research on business challenges and responses to the wartime economy is timely and relevant. By identifying and examining five domains (i.e., financial, organizational, competitive, social, and psychological) we review the literature on war and firms, identifying challenges faced by businesses and offering insights into this topic. Then, we shed light into how family firms can leverage their strengths to transform challenges into opportunities, thereby informing management studies on ways to navigate the wartime economy. Lastly, we present a research agenda and practical lessons for family business and management studies to navigate turbulent times and ensure long-term success.

Network embeddedness is a crucial factor in the international growth of family businesses. However, the blurred boundaries between family and business, along with the pursuit of socioemotional goals, make it deeply intertwined with both business growth and family dynamics. Using a case study of a fifth-generation Italian family firm in the wine industry, this study examines the co-evolution of network embeddedness, family dynamics, and international growth. Findings reveal that network embeddedness facilitates internationalization but also impacts family relationships and socioemotional goals. Strong embeddedness often leads to non-transferable personal ties, resulting in market overlap among family managers. This underscores the need for new generations to build their own networks to gain legitimacy within the family. While network embeddedness supports initial international expansion, over-embeddedness and the non-transferability of networks can hinder professionalization and restrict further growth. Moreover, it influences family dynamics, creating tensions and role overlaps that depend on strong familial harmony and the balancing role of earlier generations. This study bridges the literature on network embeddedness and internationalization in family businesses, offering insights into their dynamic interplay over time.

Despite significant growth in strategic management literature, research on firm-level capabilities in family business remains fragmented. This paper aims to consolidate this field by comprehensively examining ordinary and dynamic capabilities in family firms. Drawing on the theoretical foundations of the resource-based view and dynamic capability theories, we conducted a systematic literature review of relevant theoretical and empirical studies, including 76 journal ar ticles, spanning a period of more than 20 years. The study proposes a framework that systematizes the literature, outlining main drivers (e.g., family influence and other factors), types of capabilities (ordinary and dynamic), and related outcomes (competitive, financial, and non-financial). The review emphasizes the critical role of family influence—in terms of family business status and family involvement—in shaping capability development and highlights the importance of family behavioral dynamics, including familiness and socioemotional wealth. Finally, the study identifies gaps in existing literature and proposes research questions to guide future research.