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Love, Hate, and Desire: The Role of Emotional Messiness in the Business Family

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Understanding Family Businesses

Part of the book series: International Studies in Entrepreneurship ((ISEN,volume 15))

Abstract

The bakery is in its second and third generations. While the father owns and manages it, his elder daughter, Sarah, is employed in it. She is a trained confectioner who has worked in the firm for 7 years. Sarah continues to upgrade her skills and has innovative ideas for renewal of her family’s enterprise. She loves her work and the business and is willing to work real hard to make it prosper in the future. Her husband, Eric, works in the production and has been with the firm for 10 years. Sarah’s younger sister, Anna, is still a student, and has no interest either in confectionary or in her family firm. Their father, John, who has been running the firm since 1980 when he took it over from his father, has declared his desire to retire in about 5 years. However, at this point he has not clarified to his family who his successor will be.

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Acknowledgement

We gratefully acknowledge the feedback provided by Profs. Alan Carsrud and Malin Brännback, and helpful suggestions provided by the attendees of the 2010 FERC conference in Cancun and the 2010 EIASM conference in Barcelona.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jönköping International Business School, Center for Family Enterprise and Ownership, 1026, 551 11, Jönköping, Sweden

    Ethel Brundin

  2. School of Business Administration, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, 05405, USA

    Pramodita Sharma

Authors
  1. Ethel Brundin
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  2. Pramodita Sharma
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ethel Brundin .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. TED ROGERS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, TORONTO, M5B 2K3, Ontario, Canada

    ALAN CARSRUD

  2. Dept. Business Administration, Swedish University Abo, Henriksgatan 7, Turku, 20500, Finland

    Malin Brännback

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Brundin, E., Sharma, P. (2012). Love, Hate, and Desire: The Role of Emotional Messiness in the Business Family. In: CARSRUD, A., Brännback, M. (eds) Understanding Family Businesses. International Studies in Entrepreneurship, vol 15. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-0911-3_5

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