Women in Family Business Leadership Roles: Daughters on the Stage

Citation

Lewis, K. (2010), "Women in Family Business Leadership Roles: Daughters on the Stage", Gender in Management, Vol. 25 No. 4, pp. 340-343. https://doi.org/10.1108/17542411011048191

Cover: eye‐catching, congruent with the title and suggestive of the contents. First line: snappy and portentous. The reason I began by utilising two of the less robust, but apparently popular, ways readers assess the potential merit of a novel is that this book reads like a novel. I concede, perhaps a researcher's choice of novel, but still, a novel! It is engrossing, rich with description and alive with characters, and most importantly: its message lingers after your reading is done. As researchers we are sometimes forced into the habit of skim reading. Therefore, it is a treat when a book compels you to reread because the first time you were so distracted by the story it told that you read purely for pleasure – not only for the tables and theories, follow‐ups and references.

Professors Mary Barrett and Ken Moores are scholars with a significant track record in the area of family business scholarship, and as such this is not their first book on the topic. In this particular volume their focus is on the way in which women experience leadership roles in family businesses, and their passion for this topic is evident throughout the book. Whilst being a relatively slight volume (comprising nine chapters) the book reveals, piece by piece, their contribution and ultimately also its value.

The first chapter (entitled “Women, leadership and family business”) sets the stage for what is to come. In essence, it is a very subtle but comprehensive review of the most relevant literature that underpins the topic of the book. They draw from research on leadership, family business, entrepreneurship and gender to weave together a coherent argument as to the importance of women entrepreneurs and the unique roles they play in family businesses. It is not till you finish that you are struck by the depth of coverage that has been achieved in a mere 23‐page chapter. Included are the broad brushstrokes of the field (that would educate say a post‐graduate student) as well as the subtleties of theory (that would be appreciated by a researcher with some experience in the area). The positive (“celebration”) and negative (“accommodation”) aspects of gender differences in entrepreneurship are presented in a balanced fashion. The reader is expected to assess each argument on its merits. Historical definitions of entrepreneurship are counterpoised with contemporary trends and policy approaches. This skilful brevity, yet also density of coverage is possibly achievable only by authors with a total mastery of their area of expertise, and significant experience in distilling, and communicating, its essence. The chapter asserts that the assumption of the male norm in entrepreneurship has been perpetuated and that subsequently female entrepreneurs have not been investigated in their own right – but instead seen as a counterpoint to men – and therefore unworthy of examination in isolation. This book is a stark contrast to that approach and illuminates the experiences of these female entrepreneurs, not just the outcome of their entrepreneurial endeavours. At the end of the chapter some of the details of the study the book is based on are introduced. I enjoyed the description of the authors' “guiding principles” and would have liked more elaboration.

Chapter 2 of the book (“A global perspective”) uses data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) (and the four associated special reports on female entrepreneurship from 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007) to profile the entrepreneurial activity of women in a range of countries. Five dimensions are used to do this: participation in early stage activity; necessity and opportunity based entrepreneurship; the influence of work status; the influence of education; and, factors influencing perceptions of the environmental environment. The data illustrates that many of the reasons for entrepreneurial activity are the same for men as they are for women, but, that it is the influence of contextual factors that leads to difference. I have no doubt as to the insights available from GEM data, and the data is presented clearly using a range of tables. However, this was still my least favourite chapter of the book. After the elegance of Chapter 1 it seemed, while no doubt a necessary inclusion, somewhat dry. The tenor of the chapter was salvaged by the inclusion of mini‐cases drawn from stories of female entrepreneurs (but not those who were participants in the study the book reports on).

The next chapter of the book (Chapter 3) deals with the frameworks and methods employed in the study. A total of 13 case studies are the foundation of the book and were purposively selected to be illustrative, to stretch or to be limiting. The chosen female entrepreneurs were also deliberately picked to represent a diverse range of: roles and aspirations; national backgrounds (e.g. the sample included women from Canada, the USA, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Lebanon, Egypt and Hong Kong); firm products and services; and, firm size and generation of management. A great deal of extra methodological material is included in an appendix (including coverage of interview protocols, fieldwork processes and data analysis). This level of detail, and transparency with regard to the execution of the study, will delight readers who are researchers – as well as those who are supervising and/or teaching students in the art of research methods. It is in this chapter that the authors introduce the theatre metaphor that is central to the book and explain how they applied it to “understand and explain participants” experiences'. They also devote substantial coverage to the three frameworks that they describe as being critical in explaining their data.

The three frameworks are: earlier work by the authors themselves on the four learning phases of family businesses; Wenger's (1999) concept of communities of practice; and the typology of heiresses put forward by Curimbaba (2002). In the final section of this chapter (“A synopsis of the plot”), the four ways the female entrepreneurs in the study occupy a leadership role on the family business stage are put forward:

1. 1.

   stumbling into the spotlight;

2. 2.

   building your own stage;

3. 3.

   directing the spotlight elsewhere; and

4. 4.

   coping with shadows.

A fifth relationship is also put forward and is labelled “becoming invisible”. Each of these dimensions is then devoted (sequentially) to a chapter in the book.

Each of these five, essentially “findings”, chapters follows a pattern of parallel construction. At the beginning the female entrepreneurs who represent the way of being on stage indicated by the title are introduced. After the entrepreneurs are introduced their experiences are discussed and synthesised with the chosen frameworks. The number of interviewees presented in each chapter varies, but each is painted in rich detail and with engaging representations that are embellished with excerpts of narrative (I assume from the interview transcripts). These stories of the entrepreneurs are evocative and I could have read much more detail about all of them. A minor point: in Chapter 4 – the only error I noticed in the book was that on page 70 readers are usefully signposted to the material on the frameworks which has previously been explained. However, the reference is to Chapter 2, when it should actually, by my reckoning, be Chapter 3.

As an example of one of the chapters to highlight, I have chosen Chapter 6 (“Directing the spotlight elsewhere”) as the one I found most intriguing. This chapter presents the stories of two female entrepreneurs who utilised their certainty about their value outside the context of the family business with which they are associated, to empower them to be a better entrepreneur inside its confines. That is, they were being entrepreneurs in the family business as a result of their desire to do so, not merely because it was their destiny. This part of their stories turns on its head the notion of invisibility in the context of female entrepreneurship.

Hitherto, being invisible as a female entrepreneur has largely been presented as a negative position of isolation assumed by women in businesses because of gender norms, inequity of power, role conflict, etc. Here though, invisibility is described as being chosen as a deliberate strategy to increase the power and influence the woman possesses in the context of the family business – and indeed, is presented as a strategy that enhances “belongingness”. This choice to be actively invisible, rather than merely invisibly active, reveals how these women, and potentially many more, use invisibility as a strategy. It also points to the potential for women to be leading whilst not being perceived as leaders, and their acknowledgment that being “back stage” can be more effective, and ultimately more powerful (in reality, if not in the perceptions of others) than being “front stage”.

The ninth, and final, chapter of the book is “Lessons of the spotlight” and it assembles the cast for the final act – so to speak. Here, the authors address each of the frameworks and draw attention to the ways in which the experiences of the 13 female entrepreneurs in the study have confirmed, contradicted or enriched each framework – and they do this effectively, via the presentation of 18 propositions. The chapter builds carefully and logically, and ultimately presents significant links between the three frameworks (which are also clearly summarised in useful tables). For me, the chapter falters only in its last few pages. Here a model and concluding propositions are introduced, as well as a section on “Recurring themes and future research”. This section is covered in just over four pages and feels hurried.

Although the build up to this part of the chapter could not have been sturdier, the ending feels fragile in comparison. But then again, I am only one reader, and another might make quite a different assessment. Perhaps, it is only because of the substance and style of the book to this point that such a seemingly rushed ending jars. Nonetheless, the book is undoubtedly a significant contribution to the body of knowledge on female entrepreneurship generally, and on women's leadership in family businesses specifically. It should be a “desk set” choice for anybody interested in advancing their own understanding, or the understanding of others, about female entrepreneurship in the family business context.