Career Pursuits of the Younger Generation in Family Businesses - Role of Family Social Capital

Abstract

Family businesses are fascinating (Cohen & Sharma, 2016) and in themselves they represent some of the most outstanding examples of business performance and multigenerational sustainability (Collins & Porras, 1994) and also display acrimony and rife with conflicts by putting their existence in peril (Kets de Vries, 1993). Whatsoever, family businesses represent majority of the businesses and a significant portion of the GDP in almost every country (Colli, 2003). In India, Family businesses play a major role in contributing to the economic landscape (Dutta, 1997; Kaushik & Dutta, 2012). The share of family firms in India account for two thirds of the nation’s GDP, contributes 90% of the gross industry output and generates 79% of organized private sector employment (KPMG, 2013) These firms vary widely in terms of their size, operations and generational involvement. Looking from a brighter side, it is found that, family controlled firms in India outperform the non-family controlled peers in terms of share price returns and overall market capitalisation and more than 50 percent of the top 30 best performing family controlled companies in Asia are from India (Credit Suisse, 2018). Contrastingly, family businesses in India also face multitude of challenges (Ramachandran & Bhatnagar, 2012). They suggest among others leadership and succession planning poses major challenge for several family businesses in India.