Strategic fit within family firms: The role of family influence and the effect on performance

Research on family firms has proliferated in recent years. However, despite recurring scholarly calls, still little research is looking at the strategic management of family firms. In particular, the implications of strategic fit on the performance of family firms have been largely neglected thus far. Initially proposed for non-family firms, the concept of strategic fit states that an alignment between a firm's strategy and structure results in superior performance. However, it has been frequently argued that family firms differ in terms of their strategic behavior, mainly as a result of the influence of the family on the firm. This paper addresses the question of whether strategic fit contributes to improving performance in family firms and what role family influence plays. Drawing on the prominent fit-typology proposed to strategy research by Miles and Snow (1978), we revisit the traditional notions of strategic fit by considering the impact of family influence on the firm. Building on a sample of 171 German family firms, our results indicate that family influence plays an important role for the achievement of strategic fit and, in turn, for the achievement of superior performance.