Learning Family Business

This work examines the inescapable paradoxes of each stage of learning to manage the family firm, relating each paradox to the business life cycle. The learning stages include learning business, learning "our" business, leading our business and letting go of our business. The associated paradoxes involve stability versus adaptation; leading versus managing; and the special difficulties succession poses for the family firm. Possible pathways for managing each paradox are developed. The text integrates academic research with popular management themes and real-world cases and highlights the internationalism of family business issues through the citation of research from various countries. Stories and cases from family business owners illuminate the issues further.