The concept of "Familiness". Literature review and systems theory-based reflections

Familiness is one of the central concepts of family business research. Nevertheless there has been little research explicitly dedicated to familiness. The literature analyzed reveals four research strands that all have very different approaches. Based on systems theory, which interprets social systems (such as families or enterprises) as autopoietically closed meaning systems, consisting of communication and decisions, familiness is discussed. Familiness is the specific result of the structural coupling of family and enterprise, which can bring forth a particular identity as a family business that has grown historically and incorporates different content relations such as particular abilities to innovate. Familiness shows both manifest and latent characteristics and thus requires specific methods of diagnosis. Objective hermeneutics fulfils these requirements. A case-based research strategy seems to be a suitable approach for developing typologies of familiness.