ESCP Europe

Family constitutions in family-owned firms are becoming increasingly popular around the world. While some, though not much, research examining this trend has come from a management research perspective, legal scholarship of family constitutions is even scarcer. The first volume of this new series brings together chapters from the ‘Law and Management of Family Firms’ conference which took place at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law, Hamburg, presenting legal, managerial, historical and comparative perspectives of family constitutions. Family Firms and Family Constitution delves deeply into topics as diverse as ownership, succession, governance, justice and more, all from a managerial and legal perspective from around the world. The pioneering Law and Management of Family Firms series publishes volumes following the annual Hamburg Conference: Law and Management of Family Firms, the international and interdisciplinary forum for family business research. The conference is organized by the Max Planck Institute and the Institute for Mittelstand and Family Firms (HSBA Hamburg School of Business Administration). It brings together two distinct and previously disconnected disciplines of law and management, benefiting scholars, lawyers, consultants, and family office practitioners.

Part 1. Legal and managerial foundations Chapter 1. Family companies and family constitutions: Historical and comparative perspectives / Holger Fleischer Chapter 2. Family firms and family constitution a management perspective / Stefan Prigge and Katharina J. Mengers Chapter 3. Discussion report Part 1: Legal and managerial foundations / Felix Thiele Part 2. Managerial research i: Conceptual and qualitative analyses Chapter 4. A receiver approach to governance in family firms: The role of justice perceptions / Isabel C. Botero and Tomasz A. Fediuk Chapter 5. Family governance in practice: Lessons learned from a 100-year-old entrepreneurial family firm / Ilse Matser, Rachel Heeringa, and Jan Willem van der Vloot van Vliet Chapter 6. Managing dispersed ownership within the owner family: The role of family governance / Lena Jungell Chapter 7. Analysis of critical incidents for the design of the governance system / Hermut Kormann Chapter 8. Discussion report Part 2: Managerial research i: Conceptual and qualitative analyses / Julia Mara Rückert and Felix Thiele Part 3. Managerial research ii: Survey and quantitative analyses Chapter 9. An examination of the relationship between governance mechanisms and performance: Evidence from the australian family business context / Chris Graves, Donella Caspersz, and Jill Thomas Chapter 10. The family constitution as an instrument of corporate governance in family-owned companies / Patrick Ulrich and Sarah Speidel Chapter 11. Discussion Report Part 3: Managerial Research II: Survey and Quantitative Analyses / Felix Thiele Part 4. Legal research Chapter 12. Facets of family constitutions: Conceptual origins, practical approaches and legal implications / Sebastian Bong Chapter 13. Discussion report Part 4: Legal research i / Holger Fleischer Chapter 14. Succession in family businesses legal frameworks / Susanne Kalss Chapter 15. Family firms and family constitutions in France a general overview / Katrin Deckert Chapter 16. Discussion report Part 4: Legal research ii / Holger Fleischer Chapter 17. Family constitutions and the complexity of family businesses from a counsels point of view / Lorenz Holler Chapter 18. Discussion report Part 4: Legal research iii / Holger Fleischer Part 5. Conclusion Chapter 19. Directions for future research / Holger Fleischer and Stefan Prigge.