Dept. of Business and Economics

Innovation management in family firms is a paradoxical challenge. The constant tension between innovation and tradition confers to this topic a fascinating mystery area that calls to action scholarly efforts and further studies to underscore whether family firms are innovating or not. This debate becomes even more intriguing and interesting when family businesses are small-sized and embedded in local contexts strongly attached to traditions and cultures that inhibit change. Based on the curiosity of analyzing the innovation proclivity of small family firms rooted in such a context and building on previous studies that were focused on innovation in family run businesses, we deeply investigated two cases. Findings uncovered a twofold and opposite role of the context:  on the one hand, a constraint and, on the other hand, leverage of innovation. Interesting scholars and practical implications are discussed, and future studies are suggested.

Innovation is a key determinant of long-term success for family firms. We apply a multiple case study research design to investigate the relationship between stories that are shared among family members across generations and the family firms’ innovations. We derive a set of four propositions suggesting that founder focus in stories is negatively and family focus is positively associated with innovation. We further propose that these relationships are mediated by the scope of decision-making options, the distribution of decision-making power between generations, and the role of conflict in the families.

PurposeThis study aims to explore how customer-perceived quality is affected by innovation in traditional products in the bread, bakery and pastry industry. The study assesses whether innovating traditional products is an effective strategy, especially in traditional industries.Design/methodology/approachThis study followed a quantitative method of analysis. Data were gathered from a sample of 200 Italian bread consumers and analysed using a two-pronged correlation analysis, and two hypotheses were tested using Pearson’s correlation.FindingsThe results showed the negative relationship between customer-perceived quality and innovating traditional products in traditional industries embedded in closed contexts.Research limitations/implicationsThe study has several academic implications. First, by focusing on the traditional food industry, the study contributes to the theory by answering the call for research in this field; second, the findings contribute to the embeddedness construct a...