Research beginnings: Researching family business in Australia

Despite their widely acknowledged economic significance family owned business have largely been ignored by the local business research community. This has led to a lack of understanding of the unique features of family firms and how to manage their challenges. These challenges, particularly during transition periods, often result in conflicts that can be destructive to both firm and family and may contribute to the high mortality rate of family owned firms. Discontinuity of ownership or executive leadership, the distribution of power and assets and the role of the business in the community are also major challenges for family businesses. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the significance of, and challenges confronting family businesses; to outline research approaches and opportunities; and to describe institutional developments aimed at facilitating the execution of local family business research. This paper distils the essence of overseas research and integrates it with the limited descriptions we have of Australian family businesses to identify approaches and frameworks for the pursuit of family business research.