Owner-Manager Preference, Management Development and the Growing Family Business: A Preliminary Investigation

Contrary to the assertion that the entrepreneur is instrumental in small business growth, the process of growth cannot be construed as automatic. Accordingly there is a need to examine the relationships between the personal characteristics, experience, knowledge, skills and motivations of the entrepreneur in determining the strategic direction of subsequent performance of the small firm. Interactions between business operations and family dynamics are important, including evolution of the business in terms of management development and growth. Personal aspirations can have a significant effect upon the systems, controls and management processes implemented in the family firm. The use of a single case study examining the development of a small family firm in South Wales has been utilised to illustrate how personal aspirations of the family determine the managerial capacity of the firm. The paper suggests that an extension to the dichotomy between growth-oriented or less growth-oriented businesses should be considered in which growth is ultimately superseded by the need for economic security. In these circumstances, it is argued that management development is constrained to the extent that management processes are simply introduced to ensure that the vision and aspirations of the family are continually secured. Moreover, this paper proposes that evidence of a firm's disengagement from the process of growth could be ascertained from the management practices adopted by the owner-management team.