Ways of Framing Family Businesses:
Family businesses can be framed in fundamentally different ways, depending on the lens used — which creates tensions and paradoxes. Two dominant frames often emerge:
Business-First Frame
Family-First Frame
These frames reflect different priorities and values, and navigating between them is a core challenge for family firms.
1. Business-First Frame
Focus: Profitability, growth, market competition, innovation, strategic advantage.
Logic: Rational-economic. Prioritizes efficiency, performance, and professionalization.
Decision-Making: Data-driven, performance-oriented, sometimes with external advisors or professional managers.
Risk Attitude: Willing to take calculated risks for long-term returns.
Implication: May lead to conflicts with family traditions or emotional attachments.
2. Family-First Frame
Focus: Harmony, legacy, tradition, values, emotional ties.
Logic: Socioemotional wealth. Protecting the family’s non-financial interests (e.g., identity, status, influence).
Decision-Making: Relational and value-driven, often informal and consensus-based.
Risk Attitude: Risk-averse to avoid jeopardizing family unity or legacy.
Implication: Can hinder innovation or scaling due to emotional resistance to change.