In 2007, researchers Pramodita Sharma, Frank Hoy, Joseph H. Astrachan and Matti Koiranen published an article in the Journal of Business Research that included a chronology of key events in the history of family business education and study (P. Sharma, F. Hoy, J.H. Astrachan and M. Koiranen, “The practice driven evolution of family business education,” Journal of Business Research, 60[10]:1012-21, 2007). Following are excerpts from the chronology, reprinted here with the permission of Elsevier, the journal’s publisher. We have included a few additional entries.
1953
• Grant H. Calder completes the first doctoral dissertation on family business studies in North America, entitled “Some management problems of the small family controlled manufacturing business” (School of Business, Indiana University).
• Roland Christensen’s book Management Succession in Small and Growing Enterprises is published by Harvard University.
1954
• The first case book specific to family business, Cases in the Management of Small, Family-Controlled Manufacturing Businesses, is published at Indiana University.
1958
• Financial Problems of the Family Company, a book by Arthur Robert English, is published by Sweet & Maxwell, London.
1961
• The first family business book in Dutch, Family Problems in the Business by Stefaan Cambien, is published by the Council of Dutch Employers Association.
• Donald B. Trow’s article “Executive succession in small companies” is published in Administrative Science Quarterly (6[2]:228-39, 1961).
• Grant H. Calder’s article “The peculiar problems of family businesses” is published in Business Horizons (4[3]:93-102, 1961).
1962
• Léon and Katy Danco co-found The Center for Family Business, America’s first national organization for business owners and their families, in Cleveland.
1964
• Robert Donnelly’s article “The family business” is published in Harvard Business Review (42[4]:93-105, 1964).
1968
• Léon Danco holds the first interdisciplinary seminar on family business.
1975
• Danco’s book Beyond Survival: A Business Owner’s Guide for Success is published by Reston Publishing.
• Bernhoeft Consultoria, the first consulting firm dedicated to family business, is established in Brazil by Renato Bernhoeft.
• The Ralph Marotta Chair of Private Enterprise is established at Loyola University. The original purpose is to promote free enterprise education; an interest in family business emerges in 1978.
1978
• The Streich Chair in Family Business is established at Baylor University.
1979
• Armangue Joaquin de Arquer publishes La Empresa Familiar, the first family business textbook in Spanish (Ediciones Universidad de Navarra, Spain).
1981
• Kennesaw State College (now University) establishes the Chair of Private Enterprise.
• Elaine Kepner presents a workshop on “Family dynamics and family-owned organizations” at the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland conference.
• Nobel laureate Gary Becker publishes his economic look at the family, A Treatise on the Family (Harvard University Press).
1982
• The Wharton Family Business Program is launched at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Applied Research Center.
• John A. Davis completes his dissertation, “The influence of life stage on father-son work relationship in family companies,” at Harvard University. This marks the first presentation of the three-circle model.
• Leslie Hannah compiles the proceedings of the Eleventh International Economic History Congress, entitled From Family Firm to Professional Management, Akademiai Kiado, Budapest, Hungary. Several articles focus on patterns in the role of family capitalism across various nations.
1983
• Organizational Dynamics publishes a special issue focusing on family business studies.
• Christine Bechtle completes Die Sicherung der Führungsnachfolge in der Familienunternehmung (How to Secure Leadership Succession in the Family Firm), the first family business study in German, at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland.
• Canadian Association of Family Enterprise, a non-profit association of family business owners, is founded.
1984
• Yale University establishes a program for the study of family firms.
• The first MBA elective course in the field, “Management of the Family Business,” is offered at the University of Southern California.
• The proceedings of the Tenth International Fuji Conference, entitled Family Business in an Era of Industrial Growth, are published by University of Tokyo Press.
1985
• The College of Business at Oregon State University starts the second university-based family business program in the U.S.
• The first Family Business Research Conference is held at the University of Southern California with 30 attendees. At the end of the conference, an organizational meeting for the Family Firm Institute (FFI) is held.
1986
• FFI is founded, with Barbara Hollander as founding president.
• Kennesaw State College (now University) establishes its Family Business Center.
1987
• The first Family Business Chair in Europe is established at IESE Business School, University of Navarra, Barcelona, Spain.
• The Institute for Family Enterprise is established at Baylor University.
• The first family business study group is launched in Europe by executive-in-residence Frank Tilly at IMI (now IMD) in Geneva, Switzerland.
1988
• Family Business Review is launched.
• The first FFI research conference is held, hosted by Boston University School of Management with 40 attendees.
• The Carl R. Zwerner Endowed Professorship in Family Business is established at Georgia State University.
• The first international education seminar, entitled “Leading the Family Business,” is launched at IMI (now IMD) in Geneva.
1989
• The first family business case, “The outstanding outsider and the fumbling family,” is published in Harvard Business Review.
• Family Business Magazine publishes its premier issue.
1990
• The Family Business Network (FBN) is founded and holds the first FBN World Conference in Switzerland, with 50 -attendees.
• The first family business for-credit master’s course is offered in Europe at the School of Management and Organization, Groningen University, the Netherlands.
• Leading the Family Business executive program is launched at the Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez in Santiago, Chile.
• Loyola University Chicago establishes a Family Business Center.
1991
• The Montreal Institute for Family Enterprise is established by Nan-b and Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien. It will later evolve into the Business Families Foundation.
• Northeastern University’s Center for Family Business is founded in Boston.
1992
• The first FFI Educators Conference is hosted by Northeastern University Center for Family Business.
• IMD Business School in Lausanne, Switzerland, establishes a family business chair.
1993
• MassMutual Gallup conducts a survey of family businesses, the first large sample study of family businesses in the U.S.
• FBN organizes its first research conference at the Annual World Conference, hosted by Bocconi University, Italy.
• Business History publishes a special issue on “Family Capitalism.”
1994
• A Family Business Division is established at the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE).
• Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice publishes a special issue on family business studies.
• International Family Business Program Association (IFBPA) is founded. Annual conferences are held from 1994 to 1998. It merges with the Family Business Division of USASBE in 1999.
• The first family business center in Australia, Australian Center for Family Business at Bond University, commences operations.
• The first magazine dedicated to family businesses in Europe, Familiebedrijf, is published in the Netherlands.
• A. Bakr Ibrahim and Willard H. Ellis publish Family Business Management: Concepts and Practice (Kendall/Hunt Publishers), the first family business textbook in English.
1995
• The first Psychodynamics of Family Businesses (PFB) conference is hosted by Northwestern University. • The first family business forum in Australia is hosted by the Australian Center for Family Business in Sydney.
• Harvard Business School launches its program “Families in Business: From Generation to Generation.”
1996
• The first family business concentration in management is offered at Texas Tech University.
• Melissa Shanker and Joseph Astrachan publish the first comprehensive estimate of the size of the family business sector in the U.S. economy (Family Business Review, 9[2]:107-12, 1996).
• Cornell University holds a Conference on the Entrepreneurial Family. The proceedings are published in 1998 by Family Business Resources Ltd.
• Family Business Publishing Co. publishes the first volume in its handbook series, The Family Business Management Handbook.
1997
• First national family business survey (first large study using household sample). Twenty-five researchers from 17 institutions are involved in the study. The findings are reported in a special issue of Family Business Review, vol. 7, no. 3.
• The first family business courses in Australia are introduced at the graduate and undergraduate level at Bond University.
1999
• The first family business professorship in Northern Europe is established at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland.
• GEEF, the European Group of Owner Managed and Family Enterprises, dedicated to family business lobbying in Europe, is founded.
2001
• The International Family Enterprise Research Academy (IFERA) is founded. The first IFERA conference is hosted by INSEAD Fontainebleau, France.
• First Theories of Family Enterprise (ToFE) conference is co-hosted in Edmonton by the Universities of Alberta and Calgary.
2003
• The Family Business Magazine E-Newsletter debuts.
• Journal of Business Venturing publishes two special issues on family business studies: vol. 18, no. 4 and vol. 18, no. 5.
• Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice publishes the first of a continuing series of special issues on family business linked to the ToFE conference.
2004
• Petrina Faustine establishes a family business center in Indonesia, the first family business center in Asia.
• The first undergraduate major in family business is launched at Stetson University.
2005
• International master’s program for family business is established at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, with lectures in English and Finnish, and at the EHSAL European University College in Brussels, Belgium.
• The first Family Enterprise Research Conference (FERC) is hosted by the Austin Family Business Program at Oregon State University, Portland.
• Family Business Review is listed in the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) and in Current Contents/Social & Behavioral Sciences.
• FFI introduces FFI Practitioner, an electronic journal of best practices and cross-disciplinary thinking.
2006
• The first cross-disciplinary undergraduate major in family business studies is launched by the University of Alberta’s School of Business.
2007
• Family Business Publishing Co. launches Family Business Agenda, an annual supplement to Family Business Magazine focusing on a single topic.
• The Journal of Business Research publishes a special issue focusing on family business studies, linked to the 2006 FERC conference.