ROMA 2001

F.B.N. 12^th ANNUAL WORLD CONFERENCE

The Westin Excelsior,

Via V. Veneto 125, Roma, Italy

4-6 October 2001

CALL FOR RESEARCH PAPERS AND WORKSHOP THEMES

F.B.N. 12^th ANNUAL WORLD CONFERENCE

Family Business Network is a worldwide association for family owned enterprises. It organises activities and provides educational and networking opportunities for its 2,000 members from over 56 countries. This document calls for submissions from all parties interested in presenting:

• •  
  • Papers for the Research Forum
  •  
  • Workshops for the Main Conference

The Annual Conference brings together Family Businesses and other interested parties from all over the world to share "state of the art" knowledge, to learn from successful family firms' experiences and to network. Entrepreneurs, other active and inactive owners, successors, professionals and industry stakeholders are offered a unique opportunity to be exposed to new ideas and to confront them in a most distinguished environment.

CONFERENCE THEME:

" THE ROLE OF FAMILY IN FAMILY BUSINESS"

Conference focus:

Exploring the various roles which members of business owning families can play

and the possible ways to add value to the family firm

THE PROGRAMME

THE RESEARCH FORUM - Wednesday 3 and Thursday 4 October 2001

The Forum will include plenary and parallel sessions. Plenaries will explore some key issues for the field's development with the help of worldwide acknowledged experts. Parallel sessions will be devoted to presentations of research papers. Scholars and practitioners are invited to submit proposals on the following themes:

• Family involvement (in ownership, governance, management) and family firms' performances

• The structure and dynamics of family firms' ownership

• Governing family-firm relationship

(e.g. protocols, holding structures, family & ownership governance bodies, family offices)

• Governing the company

(e.g. governance and top management bodies, human resource practices)

• Family culture and family firm's strategy

(e.g. different types of strategic paths, managing strategic change)

• Family dynamics and their impact on the business

•  
• Families as a source of entrepreneurship

•  
• Families as incubators of values

•  
• Families in different cultural environments

During the research forum, for the first time, PhD students will also be offered the opportunity to present their thesis in family business in a dedicated stream.

F.B.N. 12^th ANNUAL WORLD CONFERENCE 4-6 October 2001 (Main Conference)

Plenary sessions, live cases and workshops will address the special roles that owning families can play, exploring how such roles may change over time and under which conditions family ownership represents a key success factor for business viability in the long-run.

Plenary sessions and workshop themes may be streamed to help participants choose the topics that suit their needs at best, and may include the following ones:

Does competition require new ownership configurations in some industries? How to match family ownership's advantages with outside partners' contributions?

Managing exit processes: how to keep good family relations and preserve company viability?

Passing on the owning family's mission: the delicate equilibrium between tradition and innovation needs

Building up the owning family's dream: the role of different generations

Managing complex family ownership; what skills and tools to keep unity and commitment? When do family protocols work and when do they not? How to make the most of governance systems?

When the family is "only" involved in ownership and governance: how to select non-family top managers and build up sound relations?

Teams at the top: is it "really" multiple leadership? When is it a good solution and when is it not?

Building up the management team: what lessons from successful family and non-family companies?

Managing conflicts among family directors and/or family managers: the role of inactive family members

Choosing one's future role in the company; the role of the family in orienting and grooming the next generation

Fostering entrepreneurship in the next generation; which opportunities from the New Economy? And which possible effects on the core business?

SUBMISSION AND SELECTION PROCEDURE

Conference Committees will review all submitted proposals for research papers, PhD theses' presentations and workshops.

RESEARCH PAPERS

Research papers' abstracts should be a maximum of 1 full page in length.

A number of abstracts will be selected using the criteria shown below:

• •  
  • consistency with conference theme
  •  
  • originality of work
  •  
  • theoretical focus and advancement
  •  
  • research methodology
  •  
  • robustness of results
  •  
  • tentative policy contribution and policy implications for family businesses, service provider/practitioner and public support perspective

Selected papers will be progressed for a second review. The best papers will then be selected for presentation at the Academic Research Forum, which will be structured in parallel thematic sessions. A final selection will be made for assignation of Conference awards.

A selection of the best papers will be considered for publication in a forthcoming special edition of The Family Business Review. Extracts of the best papers will be considered for publication in The Family Business Network Journal.

Abstracts for PhD theses' presentations should also be a maximum of 1 full page in length.

WORKSHOPS

Conference Committees will select up to 15 workshops.

Successful proposals will be consistent with the conference theme. Committees encourage family business members to be involved in presentations, and are especially interested in contents based on sound research and/or practice.

Workshops proposals should include an executive summary and an outline, and indicate presence of guest speakers if any, research/practice background, ways of interaction with attendees.

Workshops' proposals should be a maximum of 2 full pages in length.

REGISTER YOUR INTEREST

Please complete the attached registration form to indicate your interest. Initial invitations will be distributed in January and the full conference programme will be issued in spring 2001.

DEADLINES

For abstracts of research papers/PhD theses & workshop proposals 28 FEBRUARY 2001

Committee to inform on acceptance of workshops proposals

Submission of workshop plan and presentation materials: 15 June 2001

Submission of research papers: 15 June 2001

Committee to inform on final acceptance of research papers: 15 July 2001

Please send in abstracts and complete papers both on hard copy and computer diskette (Microsoft Word)

Conference Committees

The Main Conference Organising Committee comprises:

Mr. Gioacchino Attanzio Executive Director, AIdAF

Prof. Guido Corbetta SDA Bocconi

Mr. Alberto Falck President, AidAF

Mr. Matteo Fumagalli Board Member, SOL Group

Mr. Luca Garavoglia President, Davide Campari SpA

Mr. Vittorio Giulini CEO, Liolà SpA

Prof. Alden G. Lank President, FBN International

Dr. Daniela Montemerlo SDA Bocconi

Prof. Joachim Schwass Executive Director, FBN International

The Research Forum Organising Committee comprises:

Prof. Joseph H. Astrachan Kennesaw State University, USA

Prof. Guido Corbetta SDA Bocconi, Italy

Prof. Miguel Angel Gallo IESE, Spain

Dr. Daniela Montemerlo SDA Bocconi, Italy

Dr. Panikkos Poutziouris Manchester Business School, UK

Dr. Albert Jan Thomassen Tilburg University, The Netherlands

Prof. Joachim Schwass Executive Director, FBN International

Host Organisation

AIdAF is the Italian Association of Family Firms and the Italian Chapter of FBN. It includes 130 Italian family companies that represent 8% of the GNP. Its mission is to foster family business continuity through research, training and networking.

Venue

The 12^th FBN Annual World Conference will be held in the Conference facilities of the Westin Excelsior, in the heart of downtown Roma, close to Villa Borghese and Piazza di Spagna.

For further information please contact Prof. Guido Corbetta or Dr. Daniela Montemerlo

e-mail: guido.corbetta@sdabocconi.it

Please circulate this information to your colleagues or family businesses who may have an interest in presenting or attending this event

SIGN-UP FORM for the 2001 FBN World Conference

Roma, 4-6 October 2001

I wish to submit a research paper I wish to attend the Main Conference

I wish to present my PhD thesis

I will not submit a workshop or research paper or

(please check appropriate box)

Name/Title

Postal code & city Country

Tel. Fax e-mail

I would like to reserve:

Deadline for title and research papers' abstracts/workshops' proposals: FEBRUARY 28, 2001

Registration fees* Before May 31 2001 After May 31 2001

•  
• Research Forum (only): 150 Euro 150 Euro

•  
• Main Conference (Research Forum included):

- FBN Members Participant 1.300 Euro 1.400 Euro

Additional participant (same co.) 1.150 Euro 1.250 Euro

Speaker 1.000 Euro 1.100 Euro

- Non Members** Participant 1.450 Euro 1.550 Euro

Additional participant (same co.) 1.300 Euro 1.300 Euro

Speaker 1.150 Euro 1.250 Euro

* 20% VAT included

** Includes 1 year FBN Membership