Understanding the small family business

"It is estimated that family businesses comprise between 60 and 90 per cent of all firms in Europe and the United States. This book makes an important contribution to the understanding of small family firms, bringing together a number of key themes in management/organisation studies." "The contributions in this book explore the relationship between work and the family in the context of the small business. The contributors demonstrate the complexities of this relationship, arguing that it is ambiguous and shaped by contradictory yet complementary discourses of control and nurturing. These ambiguities and contradictions are examined through three dominant discourses - rational, resource-based and critical - which are identified as shaping the development of family business research over the past thirty years." "Drawing on an international range of studies, this book also points to the future of research in this area, and indicates how support and policy initiatives may be directed in the future."--Jacket.