Influencing factors of innovation performance in family firms – Based on an empirical research

Abstract

Investigation of innovation performance of family firms is rather new area in family business research. Studies focusing on the relationship between the overall performance of family businesses and their innovation activities conclude that family firms seem to innovate less, despite their ability to innovate more than other type of companies. De Massis et al. (2015) investigated how family firm managers can resolve this paradox and unlock the innovation potential of the organisations in which they work. Based on the results of international studies comparing innovation performance of family versus non-family firms, the authors’ research focused on the investigation of the differences/similarities of innovation performance of family firms, first of all small and medium sized companies located in Hungary. The novelty of the article is the analysis of the influence of various management decision-making tools on the innovation performance of SMEs, in particular family firms. The results of the empirical research confirm that management decision tools have positive impact on innovation performance of SMEs and family firms introduce more innovations than other type of companies.