Teams of business leaders make most strategic decisions in organizations. However, although a large body of research has analyzed cognitive biases of individual leaders, little is known about how those biases affect teams on the group level. Therefore, on the basis of research into group decision making and group diversity, we analyze demographic diversity and group tenure as two important determinants of overconfidence in groups. We report findings from a quasi-experimental field study iolving 46 management teams, which suggest that diversity and tenure have separate, direct effects on group overconfidence. More specifically, we show that demographic diversity reduces group overconfidence, while group tenure increases it. These findings add a dynamic dimension to the conceptualization of group overconfidence in teams. Keywords: Group overconfidence, demographic diversity, tenure

Familienunternehmen unterscheiden sich von Nicht-Familienunternehmen aufgrund des möglichen Einflusses der Familie auf das Unternehmen. Dieser Familieneinfluss kann sich sowohl positiv als auch negativ auf den Unternehmenserfolg auswirken. Wie ein Unternehmen erfolgreich die Balance zwischen gegenläufigen Einflüssen hält, zeigt das Fallbeispiel TRUMPF.

Empirical research has shown that decision-makers often display distinct risk preferences that are not explained by prospect theory as it currently exists. In particular, decision-makers have been found to act in ways that might reflect individual risk preferences outside of the fourfold pattern predicted by prospect theory. We suggest that this behavior can be explained by integrating personal factors—in addition to the contextual factors proposed by prospect theory—into a unified theory of individual choice under uncertainty. Drawing on recent findings in decision theory and social psychology, we introduce "risk attribution theory" to illustrate how cognitive and affective factors influence the evaluation of risky prospects and eventually lead to distinct individual risk behavior.

Transgenerational control intention (TCI) is a pivotal characteristic of many family firms. Yet, it remains unclear whether TCI benefits family-firm performance by instilling a long-term view, or hurts performance by fueling harmful socioemotional wealth (SEW) goals. We posit that it depends who pursues it. When faced with TCI, family managers are known to suffer from cognitive biases that, we submit, do not similarly apply to nonfamily managers. Thus, only family managers harm performance when pursuing TCI. An empirical iestigation of 107 private German family firms supports our theory; the effect of TCI on firm performance depends on who pursues it.

This article examines the relationship between long-term orientation, family iolvement in the top management team (TMT), and family firm performance. On the basis of agency and stewardship theory, we propose that the inclusion of family members in the TMT only enhances firm performance if it induces a long-term orientation among management. An empirical analysis iolving 201 privately owned family firms from Germany supports our theory that a long-term orientation helps align family and organizational goals. As such, it represents an important mediator that links family iolvement in the TMT to performance.

Purpose Research focussed on the scenario method has increasingly criticized the widely used intuitive logics (IL) approach to scenario development and introduced enhanced approaches, such as the backwards logic method (BLM) or the antifragile (AF) method, to overcome the restrictions associated with the IL approach. The BLM and the AF method have contributed to the further development of the scenario method by integrating backward reasoning and by increasing the method’s effectiveness for decision making. The purpose of this paper is to build on these ideas and introduce strategy scenarios as a further enhancement of the scenario method that directly applies the benefits of scenario-based planning to strategy development in corporations. Design/methodology/approach The authors argue that the existing methodologies do not fully integrate the benefits of scenario-based planning for strategic decision making and strategy development, as they mostly aim to develop macroenvironmental scenarios and test organizations’ existing strategies. Findings The paper suggests that changing the scope of scenario planning from environmental developments to the organization’s strategies themselves can further strengthen the method’s effectiveness for decision making. Originality/value The strategy scenario approach provides an enhanced approach to more comprehensively utilize the benefits of scenario-based reasoning for strategic decision making.

Building on organisational learning theory and CEO-strategy fit research, we introduce the concept of position-specific knowledge of a new CEO and explore its impact on the learning process that new CEOs go through after taking office and on firm performance during their early tenure. We empirically test this concept using a sample of 59 CEO succession events that occurred between 1987 and 2002 in 48 of the largest publicly listed companies in Germany. Results show that position-specific knowledge of new CEOs indeed has an influence on firm performance during the early tenure of a CEO. Thus, we conclude that organisational learning theory and position-specific knowledge of new CEOs offer a promising lens for executive succession research and that they deserve further attention.

Die Unternehmensnachfolge durch den Verkauf an Private Equity-Unternehmen gewinnt in der Praxis der Familienunternehmen eine immer stärkere Bedeutung. Private Equity-Unternehmen zielen darauf ab, den Wert ihrer Portfoliounternehmen in der Halteperiode zu steigern. Managementeingriffe in das Portfoliounternehmen bilden dafür prinzipiell einen wichtigen und erfolgversprechenden Hebel. Wir zeigen jedoch auf Basis des ressourcenorientierten Ansatzes und der Familiensystemtheorie, dass diese Managementeingriffe bei ehemals familiengeführten Portfoliounternehmen keinen bzw. sogar einen negativen Effekt besitzen können. In einer empirischen Untersuchung bei 118 europäischen Private Equity-Buyouts von Familienunternehmen finden wir Bestätigung für unsere Hypothesen. Wir tragen mit unseren Ergebnissen zur Nachfolgeforschung in Familienunternehmen bei, indem wir darauf hinweisen, dass ein Erwerber, der die spezifischen Ressourcen und Fähigkeiten von Familienunternehmen nicht nutzen und weiterentwickeln kann, keine positiven Effekte auf den Unternehmenserfolg erzielt. Zur Private Equity-Forschung tragen wir bei, indem wir aufzeigen, dass bei der zunehmend bedeutender werdenden Zielgruppe der Familienunternehmen als Iestitionsobjekte eine differenzierte Herangehensweise insbesondere bei Managementeingriffen notwendig ist. Family firm succession via a sale to a private equity company has recently gained in importance throughout Europe. During the iestment period, private equity companies typically try to increase the value of their portfolio company through active iolvement in its management. Based on the resource based view and family systems theory we show that such a behavior will be unsuccessful if the portfolio company is a former family firm. We empirically test our hypotheses on a sample of 118 European family firm buyouts and find support for our argumentation. With our study we add to family firm succession research by highlighting that acquirers that are not able to utilize the specific resources and competencies of family firms will not be able to have a positive impact on its performance. We also add to the private equity literature as we show that private equity companies should take a differentiated approach for their value adding activities when they iest in a family firm.