Strategic management in private and family businesses

This Special Issue, taking five years to come to fruition, presents the latest research on strategic management in private and family businesses in Asia Pacific regions. Asia Pacific societies have a long history of private and family businesses. For example, a Chinese classic, Records of the Grand Historian (known by its Chinese name Shiji, which was written from 109 BC to 91 BC), includes a chapter, “Biographies of Usurers” (Huozhi liezhuan), which describes private business people such as merchants and handcraftsmen over 2,000 years ago. During China’s Qing Dynasty (1644 to 1912), Chinese money merchants, who usually received investments from family members, already established subsidiaries in Japan. In India, Tata Group, established in 1860, is regarded as the number one family business in terms of size and scope. In Japan, a majority of large corporations today, such as Toyota and Suzuki, were actually developed from traditional family businesses. There are some distinctions between private and family businesses. However, many people may think of these types of organizations as synonymous, since such organizations could be new ventures, small and medium-sized enterprises, and/or large corporations. “Private business” covers a wide range of enterprises that are Asia Pac J Manag (2013) 30:633–639 DOI 10.1007/s10490-013-9359-3