Diagnosing Capabilities in Family Firms: An Overviews of Visual Research Methods and Suggestions for Future Applications
Journal
Journal of Family Business Strategy
ISSN
1877-8585
ISSN-Digital
1877-8593
Type
journal article
Date Issued
2014-03-01
Author(s)
Abstract
Family firms often develop unique capabilities over time, but these organizational competencies are difficult to identify, isolate and describe independently of the key individuals in the family firm. In this article, we provide examples and an overview of research methods that can be used to identify and visualize organizational competencies in family firms. We report from pilot applications of such visual competence diagnostics in an action research mode. We structure our article as follows: We first show the relevance of the competence visualization topic for family firms. In a second step, we classify available methods for competence visualization in a simple framework. In a third step, we report on our experience on researching a family firm with the help of visual competence diagnostics methods. We conclude the article with implications for family firm researchers and practitioners and provide a brief outlook on visual research methods and their role in better understanding family firms.
Language
English
Keywords
Family firms
Competence visualization
Visual methods
Action research
Competence diagnostics
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Refereed
Yes
Publisher
Elsevier
Publisher place
Amsterdam
Volume
5
Number
1
Start page
41
End page
51
Pages
11
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
235462