TY - JOUR

T1 - Do family investors differ from other investors?

T2 - Similarity, experience, and professionalism in the light of family investee firm challenges

AU - Thiele, Felix

AU - Rottke, Olaf M.

PY - 2018/2/1

Y1 - 2018/2/1

N2 - In recent years, a growing number of wealthy families entering the equitymarket have been seeking direct investments. But how do these actively investingfamilies (family investors, henceforth) behave compared to non-family investorssuch as private equity (PE) firms? Answering this is particularly interesting from theinvestee firms’ perspective of family businesses, as the mindset of family investorsmight be more similar to their own. However, studies so far have neglected todistinguish between different investors in family firms. Thus, this conceptual paperaims to improve the understanding of family and PE investors and to consider theconditions and decision criteria under which family firms seek an external investor.To fulfil this goal, the two investor types are systematically compared, and based onmultiple theoretical perspectives, a model of which investor type would best fit withfamily firms and their specific challenges is proposed. Thereby, we argue that thetwo investor types might be suitable partners for the investee firms depending on thechallenges they face.

AB - In recent years, a growing number of wealthy families entering the equitymarket have been seeking direct investments. But how do these actively investingfamilies (family investors, henceforth) behave compared to non-family investorssuch as private equity (PE) firms? Answering this is particularly interesting from theinvestee firms’ perspective of family businesses, as the mindset of family investorsmight be more similar to their own. However, studies so far have neglected todistinguish between different investors in family firms. Thus, this conceptual paperaims to improve the understanding of family and PE investors and to consider theconditions and decision criteria under which family firms seek an external investor.To fulfil this goal, the two investor types are systematically compared, and based onmultiple theoretical perspectives, a model of which investor type would best fit withfamily firms and their specific challenges is proposed. Thereby, we argue that thetwo investor types might be suitable partners for the investee firms depending on thechallenges they face.

KW - Management studies

KW - familiy firms

KW - private equity

KW - family investors

KW - family offices

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85041314044&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s11573-017-0871-7

DO - 10.1007/s11573-017-0871-7

M3 - Journal articles

VL - 88

SP - 139

EP - 166

JO - Journal of Business Economics : JBE

JF - Journal of Business Economics : JBE

SN - 0044-2372

IS - 2

ER -