Entrepreneurial Innovation as Survival Strategy in Family Business

Abstract

The study investigated the contribution of entrepreneurship innovation to the achievement of long-term orientation of family businesses. Specifically, the study examined the various factors contributing to the success of innovative processes in family firms. Primary data collected through the instrumentality of structured questionnaire administered on senior staff of twenty-five (25) purposively selected family firms operating in the southwestern Nigeria, and personal interview on five (5) CEOs also purposively selected were analysed with the aids of descriptive statistics to determine the contribution of each identified variables. Findings revealed that, whereas the popular notion is that family firms are conservative and risk-averse, these attributes are largely responsible for their shrewdness, cautiousness and carefulness in avoiding wasteful investments and ensuring they are very effective and prudent in their innovative processes thereby recording outstanding high innovative output per dollar. The paper concludes that family firms are always able to achieve their long-term ambition only through constant innovative processes.