Ownership Strategies in Family Businesses: A Conceptual Framework

In this chapter, we introduce the concept of ownership strategy for family businesses. Ownership has a fundamental role in family businesses where its strategic meaning raises the questions of to whom the owner’s strategy is intended and how it should be managed? To answer these questions, we introduce a conceptual framework with four different types of ownership strategies in family businesses. We suggest that ownership strategies consist of multilayered parts and each part needs a specific context and reason for being. This framework can help clarify the nature of ownership in family businesses and is a promising approach to solving the ownership paradox as it offers the owner a tool that would be directed and applicable to guiding the managerial and governance systems of businesses.