The Family Business Bulletin

A Quarterly Report from the Center of Family Enterprise Research
Mississippi State University

The Family Business Bulletin provides insights, research findings, and resources tailored to the unique needs of family-owned businesses across Mississippi. It is intended to provide tips and information that will be useful to those who are starting, currently own, or want to acquire a family firm.

Growing Through Opportunity:
How Family Goals Shape Business Opportunities

For family businesses, growth isn’t simply about finding the opportunity with the greatest potential financial return. Family values, long-term goals, legacy, relationships, and aspirations for future generations can all influence which opportunities are worth pursuing.

In this issue of The Family Business Bulletin, we explore how family firm goals shape the opportunities businesses recognize, evaluate, and pursue. You’ll find research-based insights and practical guidance on:

  1. Non-financial priorities of family businesses
  2. Three questions family entrepreneurs can ask when evaluating a new opportunity
  3. Why having family firm goals may expand the range of opportunities available to family businesses
  4. How entrepreneurship and study-abroad experiences can help students recognize new possibilities
  5. How MSU’s E-Center helps students turn ideas into entrepreneurial opportunities
  6. Open-access resources to support family businesses and entrepreneurs

INFORMATION – Understanding Goals

What Your Words Reveal: Understanding the Goals Behind Your Family Business

by Dr. Chelsea Sherlock, Assistant Professor of Management

Every family business juggles two bottom lines: the financial one and one built on legacy, relationships, and reputation. New research (Reid et al., 2026) published in Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice offers family business owners a practical way to see that second bottom line clearly, by examining the language families use to describe their own priorities.

The Three Goals Every Family Business is Chasing

Researchers studying publicly traded family businesses found that when family leaders write to shareholders or publish “about us” pages on their websites, their communications consistently emphasize three distinct, non-financial priorities (compared to non-family firms).

  1. Continuity – the desire to keep the family business under family control and pass it on to future generations. This goal shows up in language pertaining to legacy, tradition, heritage, and long-term stability.
  2. Enrichment – the emotional benefit family members get from being involved in the business together. This goal is represented by pride, belonging, close relationships, and a shared purpose.
  3. Prominence – the family’s investment in its public reputation and standing in the community. This goal is often expressed through philanthropy, community involvement, and protecting the family name.
These goals don’t always move in tandem with one another, as every family blends them differently. For instance, a family can have a goal of keeping the business in the hands of family members (continuity) but can have relatively little emotional connection to the business itself (enrichment). These goals show up, often unconsciously, in how family leaders communicate about their family businesses.

This research found that family businesses that emphasize these non-financial goals more frequently in their communications also tend to demonstrate stronger social responsibility but weaker short-term financial performance. In other words, prioritizing legacy, continuity, community relationships, and reputation may involve tradeoffs. However, for many owning families these non-economic goals are central to why they own and continue their businesses and may contribute to the family firms’ long-term sustainability and success.

RESEARCH – Summary & Suggestions

Willing and Able? Three Questions to Ask Before Pursuing a New Opportunity

by Dr. Laura Marler, Jim and Pat Coggin Professor of Management

Family entrepreneurs often engage in multiple endeavors and regularly identify new venture opportunities to expand their portfolios of business. Research demonstrates that family firms tend to consider non-economic goals such as family control, impact on the business, family identity and legacy, and community relationships when making these decisions. Therefore, while determining if a business opportunity will be profitable is a key consideration for both family and non-family firms, non-economic considerations make family firm decision making unique. In a 2022 article written by my colleagues and me, we explain how non-economic goals fit in the decision-making process of a family entrepreneur. Image theory offers a useful explanation as to why profit considerations alone do not drive whether an entrepreneur will pursue an opportunity. We suggest that three types of images guide decision making: values, trajectory, and strategy.

Three Questions Every Family Business Should Ask

1. Values Image – Does this opportunity fit who we are?

  • Does it reflect our family’s values?
  • Does it protect our reputation?
  • Would we be proud to have our family name associated with it?

2. Trajectory Image – Does this opportunity help us become who we want to be?

  • Does it move us toward our long-term vision?
  • Does it support the future we want for the business?
  • Will it help the next generation succeed?

3. Strategy Image – Does this fit how we do business?

  • Does it fit our capabilities?
  • Does it fit the way we serve customers?
  • Does it leverage our strengths?
  • Can we realistically execute it well?

These questions can help family firms understand how non-economic goals impact their decision making and offer guidance as family entrepreneurs actively consider new ventures.

Vardaman, J. M., Markin, E. T., Penney, C. R., Marler, L. E., & McKee, D. N. (2022). Willing and able? The screening and adoption of habitual family venture opportunities. Family Business Review, 35(2), 126–139.

RESEARCH – Evaluating Opportunities

Family Firm Goals and Opportunities

by Dr. James J. Chrisman, COFER Director and Julia Bennett Rouse Endowed Professor of Management

Family firms are thought to be more interested in non-economic goals than non-family firms because of their desire to be altruistic to family members but more importantly because they are focused on long-term intergenerational sustainability of family control. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the non-economic goals of family firms may actually expand their opportunities.

It has generally been believed that assets can only generate economic returns, but recent work suggests that non-economic returns can be earned as well. Family firms may derive non-economic returns from family ownership and control that are not available, or not as valuable, to non-family firms and have no market value outside the family.

Scholars who study the differences between family and non-family firms have focused on variations in goals, which are key reasons for the differences in strategic behavior. Family firms may pursue strategies that trade off the achievement of economic for non-economic goals. The ability to accept this tradeoff means they have a lower cost of capital than non-family firms. When the total economic returns required by non-family firms equals the total economic plus non-economic returns required by family firms, the economic returns of family firms will be lower.

If non-family firms are more likely to pursue economic goals, they should be expected to focus only on opportunities that achieve those. Conversely, family firms can accept the achievement of both types of goals, meaning the minimum acceptable cost of capital is lower.

Therefore, family firms have a larger number of potential opportunities from which to select. This is one reason they are more prevalent than non-family firms. This means non-economic goals have survival value by opening opportunities unavailable to non-family firms.

As noted above, the most important non-economic goal of family firms is intergenerational sustainability. This suggests the time horizon for non-family firms is shorter, which means higher discount rates and higher cost of capital. If family firms attach lower discount rates to the economic returns of long-term opportunities, the range of projects that meet the cost of capital should be greater than those of non-family firms.

Although family firms may invest into opportunities from which non-family firms are excluded, they may also pursue opportunities that attract competition from non-family firms. When the returns generated by an opportunity exceed the total required economic returns, slack can be created, which will not exist to the same extent for non-family firms that benefit only from achieving economic goals.

If the returns stemming from an opportunity exceed the cost of capital, it may be possible for family firms to invest excess economic returns in other opportunities or resources. Non-family firms can’t fully duplicate this because they require a higher level of economic returns to achieve their cost of capital.

These investments can be made in resources that generate either economic returns or non-economic benefits. In family firms, the most frequent investments tend to be in family resources. Focusing on resources embedded in the family can reduce conflicts of interest and information asymmetries, thereby decreasing the need for costly formal control mechanisms. Ultimately, investing slack economic returns in activities that yield non-economic returns could make the strategies family firms use to exploit opportunities or strengthen family resources more difficult for other firms to duplicate, furthering family firms’ economic performance.

Key Takeaways:

  • Family firms can pursue a wider range of opportunities than non-family firms.
  • Non-economic goals such as maintaining family control can be an advantage and not just a constraint.
  • A long-term outlook creates more options.
  • Family-based resources can become difficult-to-copy advantages.

This article is summarized from: Chrisman, J.J., Fang, H., & Skorodziyevskiy, V. (2025). Toward a property rights theory of the family firm. Journal of Management.

INFORMATION – Expanding Opportunities

Shrinking the World: Study Abroad as Entrepreneurship Education

Dr. Erik Markin, Associate Professor of Management

Entrepreneurship education is ultimately about learning to recognize opportunities, navigate uncertainty, build relationships, and understand how businesses operate within the environments around them. Few experiences bring those lessons to life quite like studying abroad.

The College of Business Study Abroad Programs are designed to be much more than sightseeing. Students certainly visit the cultural icons that make destinations memorable, but they also learn how to navigate unfamiliar cities, cultures, and business environments. For students accustomed to life in Mississippi, simply moving through Barcelona, Paris, or Amsterdam using metros, trams, trains, shuttles, and other forms of public transportation can be an exercise in adaptability and problem solving.

More importantly, students meet the people who make these places work. They talk with entrepreneurs and small business owners, visit innovative startups, explore universities and entrepreneurial ecosystems, and learn from major global brands. During our recent Global Game Changers program, for example, students visited organizations ranging from Codorníu and Tech Barcelona to VivaTech and the Heineken Experience. Each offered a different perspective on innovation, growth, sustainability, branding, and competition.

For entrepreneurship students, we take the experience even further. In each destination, students investigate what it would actually take to operate a business there. Rather than simply searching for answers online, students have opportunities to ask owners and operators themselves.

  • What licenses are required?
  • What regulations must an entrepreneur navigate?
  • What does commercial space cost?
  • What are the labor, rental, and operating considerations?
That interaction matters because entrepreneurship is fundamentally about relationships. Study abroad helps shrink the world for budding entrepreneurs. An “international business” can sound intimidating until students realize that, at its core, international business often begins with a relationship between people in different places.

The goal is not simply for students to return home with passport stamps and photographs. We want them to return to Mississippi with greater cultural competence, broader professional networks, increased confidence, and new ideas about what is possible.

Modern businesses are already global. Their customers, competitors, suppliers, technologies, employees, and ideas increasingly cross borders. Employers recognize that reality, which makes meaningful international experience a differentiator for our graduates.

Ultimately, we want students to see the world, learn from people making an impact in their own entrepreneurial ecosystems, and bring those lessons home. Study abroad expands their understanding of business while simultaneously making the world feel smaller, more accessible, and full of opportunity.

That is exactly the mindset we hope to develop in the next generation of Mississippi entrepreneurs.

RESOURCES – Developing Entrepreneurs

Mississippi State’s E-Center Opportunities

Why It Matters to Family Businesses
Many successful family businesses begin as entrepreneurial ventures, and entrepreneurship remains important as those businesses grow across generations. Mississippi State’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Outreach (E-Center) helps students develop the entrepreneurial mindset and practical skills needed to launch new ventures, expand existing family businesses, and lead innovation.
From Idea to Opportunity
The E-Center gives students opportunities to explore ideas, test their potential, and turn promising concepts into viable ventures.

VentureCatalystTM

Students develop business ideas, validate opportunities, receive mentoring, and work toward building investor-ready ventures.

Pitch Competitions & Startup Funding

Students practice presenting their ideas, receive feedback, compete for awards, and access funding that can help move promising ventures forward.
From Concept to Creation

The Idea Shop Makerspace

Students can build prototypes and transform ideas into tangible products.

CoWork at The Hub

A collaborative environment connects students with entrepreneurs, mentors, and industry professionals.
Learning from Entrepreneurs

Mentoring

Students receive one-on-one guidance from faculty and experienced entrepreneurs.

Workshops & Networking

Programs and events help students learn from entrepreneurs while building connections across Mississippi’s innovation ecosystem.

Bringing Entrepreneurship Back to the Family Business

E-Center experiences can help the next generation develop skills they can apply to an existing family business. Students learn to:
  • Evaluate new business opportunities
  • Test ideas before committing significant resources
  • Develop innovative products and services
  • Explore new markets and revenue streams
  • Bring an entrepreneurial mindset back to the family business
  • Build skills that can support growth across generations

By the Numbers

Learn More

To learn more about entrepreneurship opportunities at Mississippi State, contact Aiden McLain, Program Coordinator, Center for Entrepreneurship and Outreach (E-Center), or visit the E-Center website HERE.

RESOURCES

Open Resources for Family Firms

Family businesses do not have to navigate complex challenges alone. High quality, open-access resources offer guidance on topics ranging from succession to governance, growth, and even exits.
  • Familybusiness.org offers open access to articles written to help family businesses succeed. Research-based insights are shared with practitioners in mind.
  • Entrepreneur & Innovation Exchange contains open-access articles, interviews, and videos based on applied entrepreneurship research written for founders and business leaders.
  • SCORE provides free mentoring and education programs for small businesses through a large volunteer network of experienced executives.
  • The Mississippi Small Business Development Center Network provides free business counseling, training, and resources to help entrepreneurs start, grow, and strengthen their small businesses.
  • The U.S. Small Business Administration offers free courses, guides, and training through the SBA Learning Center.
  • Family Business/Business Family Podcast is hosted by Zack Needles, editor-in-chief of familybusinessmagazine.com. Each episode features conversations with owners, advisors, and other family business professionals on all the things that make being part of a family enterprise so challenging – and so rewarding!
Mississippi State University’s Center of Family Enterprise Research (COFER) is dedicated to advancing research, education and support for family-owned businesses with a focus on Mississippi’s unique family business landscape.

Dr. Jim Chrisman, Director of COFER

662-325-3928

EMAIL

WEBSITE

Mississippi SBDC

America’s SBDC

Mississippi State University is an equal opportunity institution.

Editor: Dr. Laura Marler

Head, Department of Management & Information Systems & Jim and Pat Coggin Endowed Professor of Management

Publisher: Tellos Creative

A Family Firm