Introduction to research on centenarian family firms: The keys of longevity

Abstract

Over time, family firms have to face great challenges and threats in order to survive in an increasingly competitive environment. In this complex context, some family firms are capable to address major changes drawing upon the experience of their longevity, passing the legacy across generations (Zellweger et al., 2012). In the last decades, changes have accelerated, but these family businesses continue to build on their capacity for resilience and their willingness to continue keeping the business in hands of the owning family. There is already some research about centenarian family firms, but generally this is not yet a well-studied topic in the field despite its relevance. Previous research includes works about the features of centenarian family firms, and some more about longevity. Some of the previous studies focused on the values as a key factor to explain the longevity of family firms. Koiranen (2002) conducted an exploratory study on the values of Finnish centenarian family firms, stating that “values are the result of a historical process in which people gradually accept and internalize beliefs and values based on the leader’s (often the founder’s) vision after it has shown to be successful. (p.185)”. In this way, Kammerlander et al. (2015) point out that shared stories could be a relevant way of transmitting the founder’s path across generations in order to maintain it in the long term, and Salazar (2022) explains how the archetype of hero can be a useful tool to provide inspiration and sense to family members in every generation. Tàpies and Fernández-Moya (2012) focus their research on the influences of values on longevity of family firms. They propose a classification of values into three categories: values that contribute to family