Course syllabus for Entrepreneurial family firms

Entreprenöriella familjeföretag

Specific entry requirements

No less than 120 credits.

Outcomes

The course is designed for students who are interested in working in family firms (e.g. as entrepreneurs, managers, employees) or with family firms (e.g. as advisors, consultants, board members, or bankers) or who come from a family firm background (e.g. next generation family owners). The overall purpose of this course is thus to help students develop a skill set that allows them to apply, in practice, appropriate models, theories and experiences presented during the course, as well as to critically examine the strengths and weaknesses of these models, theories and experiences.

Upon completion of the course, students should be able to:

• Demonstrate a deep understanding of central characteristics, opportunities and challenges that different types of family firms face and how they are different compared to non-family firms
• Describe and integrate main theories, models and concepts within the field of family firms, and explain how these can be applied to understand different types of entrepreneurial family firms
• Demonstrate an advanced ability to analyse common themes essential for building and growing entrepreneurial family firms, from both a theoretical and practical perspective
• Demonstrate an advanced ability to integrate and reflect upon common challenges and key decisions facing entrepreneurial family firms and to build appropriate strategies to address these challenges and key decisions in practice

Content

This course introduces students to the broad, but complex, phenomenon of entrepreneurial family firms. The course covers many themes relevant to starting a new business and/or maintaining and growing the entrepreneurial capacity in established family firms. Examples of themes included in the course are the history and characteristics of entrepreneurial family firms across the globe, strategy, innovation, governance, leadership, succession, sustainability, finance, transgenerational entrepreneurship, conflicts and relationships and consulting to family firms. The course aims to introduce conceptual tools and theoretical frameworks that can aid students in better understanding entrepreneurial family firms. The course also includes many practical learning situations with real case studies, guest lectures and possible company visits that cover both new family-based innovative ventures and established, long-lived family firms that have maintained and developed their entrepreneurial spirit for centuries. The course blends examples and experiences from a Swedish setting with a strong international focus and outlook.

Teaching methods

The course uses different learning and teaching formats with the purpose of blending theories, concepts and models based on leading research, with practice and experience through examples, cases and real-life challenges. Some lectures will be led by the course director at the beginning of the course, but most of the sessions are in the form of class presentations and discussions around readings, case studies (live and written), guest lectures and (possibly) a company visit. More specifically, the course contains introductory lectures laying the theoretical, contextual and practical foundation for the course and seminars that focus on live cases/guest lectures/company visits, written teaching cases, and articles, and one final seminar where participants present their project report from the live case. The practical live project where student groups work throughout the course with real challenges in a family firm setting is a core component of the course format. All sessions (lectures, seminars, presentations) are interactive and based on the active involvement of participants. The instructor's role is to support and facilitate students' learning and ability to develop skills useful for acting as leaders in relation to family firms.

Students are given assignments in preparation for each session and should be ready to present and discuss in class. The overall structure of the course is based on a number of themes (e.g. the context and characteristics of entrepreneurial family firms, strategy, innovation, governance, leadership, succession, sustainability, economics, entrepreneurship, exit, conflicts/relationships and consulting) that jointly contribute to an advanced and integrative understanding of different aspects of the multifaceted phenomenon of entrepreneurial family firms. Videos and different forms of narrative texts will be used to support students' learning. Students are expected to perform a professional presentation of their live project towards the end of the course. This presentation will be part of the examination.

Examination

The examination will be both individual (60%) and group (40%) based.

Students will have to pass all course assignments in order to receive a passing grade.

After completing the course, the final grade will be a combination of all the weighted examinations.

If there are special grounds or a need for adaptation for a student with a disability, the examiner may decide to deviate from the syllabus's regulations on the examination form, the number of examination opportunities, the possibility of supplementation or exemptions from the compulsory section/s of the course etc. Content and learning outcomes, as well as the level of expected skills, knowledge and abilities, may not be changed, removed or reduced

Compulsory participation
Participation in seminars, workshops and presentations is mandatory. The examiner assesses if and how absence from compulsory parts can be compensated. Before the student has participated in compulsory parts or compensated absence in accordance with the course examiner's the student's course results will not be reported. Absence from a compulsory part may result in the student having to wait to compensate until the next time the course is given.

A limited number of examinations

Students who have not passed the regular examination are entitled to participate in five more examinations. If the student has not passed the exam after four participations, he/she is encouraged to visit the study advisor. If the student has failed six examinations/tests, no additional examination or new admission is provided.

The number of times that the student has participated in one and the same examination is regarded as an examination session.
Submission of a blank exam is regarded as an examination session. An examination for which the student registered but not participated in, will not be counted as an examination.

Transitional provisions

Examination will be provided during a time of two years after a possible cancellation of the course. Examination can take place according to an earlier literature list during a time of one year after the dae when a major renewal of the literature list has been made.

Other directives

The course language is English.

The course is offered within the framework of the Stockholm School of Entrepreneurship and given at Stockholm School of Economics (SSE).

Literature and other teaching aids

The course literature primarily consists of articles from leading scientific academic journals in the field and from practitioner-oriented academic journals (e.g. Harvard Business Review). This is complemented with case studies and newspaper articles. There is no mandatory course textbook, but a recommended referential course textbook.