Programa del congreso

• Objetives: this study examines the impact of family ownership and control on business efficiency, a topic of ongoing debate in the academic literature. Specifically, we assess whether family or nonfamily firms achieve higher levels of technical efficiency and better resource management.

• Theoretical framework: the research is grounded in agency theory, taking into account Type I and Type II errors.

• Methodology: using a sample of 1,286 Spanish manufacturing SMEs, we apply two distinct efficiency estimation methods: Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA). The metafrontier approach allows us to distinguish between group-specific and overall efficiency levels.

• Results/implications: our findings indicate that nonfamily firms utilize more advanced production technologies, leading to higher efficiency levels. However, family-owned businesses operate closer to their group efficiency frontier, suggesting better internal resource optimization. These results highlight the need for nonfamily firms to enhance internal management practices to reduce inefficiencies. The study provides valuable insights for policymakers and business owners aiming to improve SME efficiency based on ownership structure.

This study provides empirical evidence concerning the influence of family control on private firms’ working capital investment strategies. Using a sample of 3,022 privately held Spanish firms from 2013 to 2020, we examine the heterogeneity within family firms by considering various factors such as control thresholds, family reputation, management structure, and level of family involvement. Additionally, we explore the impact of family generations on net operating working capital investment. Our findings suggest that when a family holds the controlling stake in a private firm, the firm tends to adopt a more conservative working capital policy. Furthermore, the evidence indicates that this conservative approach is increasingly reinforced across successive family generations.

La difusión de las denominadas tecnologías de la industria 3.0 y 4.0 ha aumentado en los últimos años. Aunque numerosos estudios abordan el proceso de digitalización y sus consecuencias en el sector manufacturero, hay poca información sobre los factores que la determinan, como la participación familiar. En línea con la investigación sobre innovación, formulamos la hipótesis de que la propiedad y la gestión familiar impulsan la adopción de la digitalización industrial en 20 tecnologías. Mediante un análisis de regresión de 585 empresas manufactureras españolas, los resultados indican una relación positiva de la propiedad y gestión familiar en la digitalización industrial.

In this study, we examine the impact of the adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on international expansion in family firms compared to nonfamily firms. We suggest that adopting AI-based technologies increases family firm exports. Additionally, we propose that the positive effect of AI on exporting in family firms (versus nonfamily firms) is enhanced when the level of digital development in their region is high. Our dataset is based on a sample of family and nonfamily firms (in Spain) from 2018 to 2022. Our results show that the negative influence of family involvement on international expansion is mitigated by higher levels of AI adoption. This study also finds that family firms that adopt AI show higher export intensity than their nonfamily counterparts when the regional digital development of the home country is high. We contribute to the literature by demonstrating the benefits of AI to exporting in different types of organization. We also provide evidence that regional digital development can be considered a more significant underlying mechanism of the association between AI and exporting in family firms than in nonfamily firms. This work offers a pathway for future research to achieve a deeper understanding of how AI contributes to international expansion.