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Family Businesses: Building a Merger and Acquisition Research Agenda

ISBN: 978-1-78973-600-7, eISBN: 978-1-78973-599-4

Publication date: 17 June 2019

Abstract

Family businesses dominate the economic landscape and contribute to the market for corporate control across the globe, either as acquiring companies or as target. However, there is still limited research investigating acquisitions by or of family firms. The authors begin to remedy this gap by providing a narrative review of extant research. Findings indicate that acquisitions in family firms are primarily regarded as a tool to solve succession problems, and not as a strategic tool to achieve growth. A greater dialog between acquisition and family business scholars can be an important means to improve theory and practice of acquisitions involving family businesses across the globe.

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Acknowledgements

Acknowledgments

An earlier draft of this manuscript was presented at the Research workshop “Exploring the relationships between innovation and internationalization of family firms across Europe,” held in Trento (June 4–5, 2018). The authors are grateful to workshop reviewers, discussants, and participants for constructive comments.

Citation

Meglio, O. and King, D.R. (2019), "Family Businesses: Building a Merger and Acquisition Research Agenda", Cooper, C.L. and Finkelstein, S. (Ed.) Advances in Mergers and Acquisitions (Advances in Mergers and Acquisitions, Vol. 18), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 83-98. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-361X20190000018006

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited