Concealing or Revealing the Family?

Abstract

Although scholars contend that family and corporate heritage can be strategically deployed to gain a competitive advantage, few studies have examined the specific ways in which family firms leverage on these distinctive attributes in their marketing activities. The authors’ examination of a sample of official corporate websites reveals that family firms adopt different branding strategies to communicate the familial component of their businesses. The authors labeled these strategic variations as family preservation, family enrichment, and family subordination. This study advances extant research by exploring the various family-based branding strategies that family firms can draw on to differentiate themselves from their competitors.