The temporal development of strategy in small family firms: Empirical evidence from Italy

Abstract

While strategy development in large firms has been studied since the 1990s, very little research has examined how strategy is formed and implemented in small family firms without formal business planning systems. To address the paucity of research and the consequent difficulty in identifying the characteristics of strategy development in the context of small family firms, this study proposes a longitudinal analysis framework to examine the temporal development of strategy in small family firms. Furthermore, through an in-depth longitudinal case study of a small Italian family firm in the wine sector, we verify whether the proposed framework allows fully understanding the strategy implemented over time and how it emerged dynamically in the absence of any formal business planning. To gain a richer understanding of how strategic processes unfold in small family firms, the strategic goals pursued, and whether and how these were achieved, this study reconstructs the impact of the progressive implementation of the strategy on the firm’s operational and financial performance, as well as the business model changes introduced over time.