Sensemaking of family enterprise business model

This paper aims to provide an alternative perspective on the constructs of family enterprise model. The conceptual model shows the nexus of family and enterprises in four quadrants: Kin, Business; Kin, Not-business; Not-kin, Business; and, Not-kin, Not-business. This construct synthesis aims to cover family enterprises from ancient to contemporary times to contribute to a theoretically founded conceptual framework. The two constructs to form a definition of family enterprise are enterprise, and attachment. The enterprise construct consists of two dimensions, Business and Not-Business. The attachment construct comprises two dimensions, Kin and Not-Kin, which are then offered with conceptual definitions. The paper proposes several ways to appropriately measure the constructs to address research questions. To the best of my knowledge, it is the first academic paper that includes not businesses such as not-for-profit as part of family enterprise business model. It examines the concept of family as member attachment to the enterprise rather than member ancestry. Practitioners and policymakers seeking solutions to family enterprises can use the four quadrants to investigate the issues, as each quadrant contains unique characteristics.