Can family firms overcome better an economic crisis carrying out innovations with universities?

Abstract

According to previous researches, the intersection between the concepts of Family Business (FB) and Innovation is not sufficiently studied and developed and new knowledge should be drawn on how the characteristics of a FB influence the possibilities and attitudes towards innovation; or if there are differences or not among them in the way of innovating. Of all the possible variables that can influence the innovation of FBs, this study will focus on the environment in which these types of companies operate (Padilla-Meléndez et al., 2015). After a review of the literature, it can be said that a deeper analysis of this this field of study, being the reasons twofold. First, in order to know if family-type businesses depend more or less on the environment than other companies (Donckels & Fröhlich, 1991). Second, to examine if the environment is a determining variable for the decisions taken by the company's executives (Dess et al., 1997) Besides, Open Innovation is a relatively recent paradigm for innovation management (Chesbrough, 2006; Gassmann, 2006). And more specifically, universities and research institutions have been widely studied in the literature from several different aspects (Agrawal, 2001; Geiger, 2005; Hall, 2004; McMillan & Hamilton, 2003; Poyago-Theotoky et al., 2002), and it can be concluded that cooperation with these institutions, such as universities, is more beneficial than cooperation with other companies (Arvanitis & Bolli, 2011; Ayari, 2010; Belderbos et al., 2004; Bercovitz & Feldman, 2007; Blanco Hernández, 2014; Fabrizio, 2009; Fitjar & Rodríguez-Pose, 2016)