When family ties put business in a bind

The exceptional economic success of many European countries in the post-War period was characterised by the wide presence of family firms across the Continent. Particularly, in countries like Germany and Italy, family ownership came to be seen as the best guarantee of economic and social development. However, the consensus that family firms are good for growth has come under scrutiny in recent years.
... Our methodology builds on the managerial ethnographic studies conducted by Henry Mintzberg in the 1970s, which we extend to cover large and random samples of managers. Every day of a randomly selected week we record every activity the chief executives undertake through daily interviews with the CEOs themselves or their personal assistants. 

Read article here: Business Spectator, February 18, 2014