Rights statement: The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 44 (1), 2019, © SAGE Publications Ltd, 2019 by SAGE Publications Ltd at the Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice page: https://journals.sagepub.com/home/etp on SAGE Journals Online: http://journals.sagepub.com/
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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Managing the tradition and innovation paradox in family firms
T2 - A family imprinting perspective
AU - Erdogan, I.
AU - Rondi, Emanuela
AU - De Massis, Alfredo Vittorio
N1 - The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 44 (1), 2019, © SAGE Publications Ltd, 2019 by SAGE Publications Ltd at the Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice page: https://journals.sagepub.com/home/etp on SAGE Journals Online: http://journals.sagepub.com/
PY - 2020/1/1
Y1 - 2020/1/1
N2 - Long-established family firms are endowed with a bundle of beliefs and practices that constitute their tradition. However, to remain competitive, they need to renew their products and production processes. Such forces pulling toward the past and the future, antithetically calling for continuity and change, seem paradoxical. In an abductive analysis of eight long-established family firms in Turkey, we identify four equifinal strategies to manage this paradox. Adopting a family imprinting perspective, we theorize how the long-lasting legacy of previous family generations shapes different approaches to innovation and tradition depending on the content imprinted on the current family generation. Contributing to family business, imprinting and innovation research, we identify the new construct of temporal symbiosis as a firm’s simultaneous adoption of retrospective and prospective approaches to using its resources to concurrently perpetuate tradition and achieve innovation, highlighting its crucial role as a shield of the past and engine for the future.
AB - Long-established family firms are endowed with a bundle of beliefs and practices that constitute their tradition. However, to remain competitive, they need to renew their products and production processes. Such forces pulling toward the past and the future, antithetically calling for continuity and change, seem paradoxical. In an abductive analysis of eight long-established family firms in Turkey, we identify four equifinal strategies to manage this paradox. Adopting a family imprinting perspective, we theorize how the long-lasting legacy of previous family generations shapes different approaches to innovation and tradition depending on the content imprinted on the current family generation. Contributing to family business, imprinting and innovation research, we identify the new construct of temporal symbiosis as a firm’s simultaneous adoption of retrospective and prospective approaches to using its resources to concurrently perpetuate tradition and achieve innovation, highlighting its crucial role as a shield of the past and engine for the future.
KW - family business
KW - tradition
KW - innovation
KW - imprinting
KW - paradox
KW - abduction
U2 - 10.1177/1042258719839712
DO - 10.1177/1042258719839712
M3 - Journal article
VL - 44
SP - 20
EP - 54
JO - Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice
JF - Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice
SN - 1042-2587
IS - 1
ER -