“Feeding the fire of entrepreneurship:
Theory and practice for the enterprising family”
In family firms, the intertwinement of the family and the business systems gives the former a crucial role in forging principles, values, and competences that affect entrepreneurial decision-making and outcomes. For example, family structure, members’ roles and relationships impact the resources made available to the firm and their use, both statically (i.e. at a given point in time) and dynamically (i.e. through family development and transitions, such as childbirth and marriage, but also divorce and death). Family-related norms, attitudes and their evolution also have implications on entrepreneurial behaviours (e.g., opportunity recognition, new business start-up decisions) and outcomes (e.g., survival, fulfilment of economic and non-economic goals). Scholars agree it is increasingly important to adopt a family perspective and to focus on the enterprising family as a yet unexploited unit of analysis in entrepreneurship research.
The aim of the conference is to create a fertile ground to a) support the development of theories of the enterprising family; b) favour the disciplinary cross-fertilization of family studies and entrepreneurship fields (e.g., the application of family science theory to investigate entrepreneurship); c) frame and systematize the contribution of management theories (e.g., agency theory, stewardship theory, socio-emotional wealth perspective, resource based view, …) to the theorizing on the enterprising family. Such theorizing effort at the “enterprising family” unit of analysis has relevant implications for practice too. Family business practitioners and educators can benefit from this line of inquiry, by recognizing the challenges related to family issues, which should be considered as complementary to the much more discussed business ones in fostering entrepreneurial potential of family firms.
The conference location is the old medieval part of Bergamo, a charming and lively town.
The University of Bergamo, ranked among the top 100 young universities worldwide and the top 500 universities worldwide according to the Times Higher Education, offers a vibrant academic environment
Howard Aldrich, UNC Chapel Hill, USA
Jay Barney, University of Utah, USA
Nadine Kammerlander, WHU, Germany
Pictures of the event are available on the IFERA Official Facebook page
Conference chair: Tommaso Minola
Conference Co-Chairs: Mara Brumana, Giovanna Campopiano
Consortia Co-Chair: Claudia Binz Astrachan, Emanuela Rondi
Research and publications Director: Josip Kotlar
Event Coordinators: Valentina Re, Inese Ziemele
Conference venue: University of Bergamo, Italy
Event dates: 17th – 21st June 2019
Conference Program Overview (pdf)
Consortiums Program Overview (pdf)
Conference proceedings (members access only)
IFERA 2019 has assigned several awards that, based on peer-review, will recognize excellence, quality and impact of papers and proposals submitted to the conference. Awards will include the Best Conference Paper, the Best Paper on Conference Theme, the Best Paper-Contribution to Practice, the Best Reviewer(s) and the best PhD Thesis Proposal.
Award jury: Alfredo DeMassis, Cristina Bettinelli, Alister Anderson, Kim Eddleston
Winner:
Family-oriented non-economic objectives and the internationalization of family firms: Evidence from Australia
Chris Graves, Henry Shi and Francesco Barbera
Other nominated papers:
Award jury: Evelyn Micelotta, Andrea Salanti, Peter Jaskiewicz
Winner:
Entrepreneurship Orientation in Family Firms. An Exploratory Study
Michela Floris and Cinzia Dessì
Other nominated papers :
Award jury: Rachel Taliaferro, Anita Van Gils, Giuseppe Pedeliento
Winner:
The Carreño Family
Ricardo Aparicio
Other nominated papers:
Award jury: Marcel Hulsbeck, Edoardo della Torre, Daniel Pittino
Winner:
The mixed gamble of strategic market focus in family and nonfamily firms
Ivan Miroshnychenko, Alfredo De Massis, Kim A. Eddleston and Josip Kotlar
Other nominated papers:
Award jury: Tommaso Minola, Mara Brumana, Giovanna Campopiano
Winners:
Juliana Binhote, Maria Josè Sanchez-Bueno, Alessandro Cirillo, Luca Manelli
Award jury: Rania Labaki, Federica Origo, Attilia Ruzzene, Cristina Cruz
Winner:
Digital Transformation, Digital Entrepreneurship, and Digital Innovation in Family Firms
Jonas Soluk
Other nominated papers:
Award jury: Esra Memili, Emanuela Rondi, Renato Redondi, Philipp Sieger
Winner:
Changing Family Demographics as a Venture Creation Opportunity
Jiyoung Kim
Other nominated papers:
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER
