Capturing Family Firm Heterogeneity: How Taxonomies and Typologies Can Help the Field Move Forward

As the field of family business continues to mature, it is not surprising that there is a growing recognition of the degree of heterogeneity among family firms. While many earlier studies focused on differences between family and nonfamily firms, more and more research is centered on identifying the sources and types of variance among family firms. Given the increasing need to better understand differences among family firms, we propose that a configurational approach, which is often reflected in typologies (which are conceptually developed) or taxonomies (which are empirically derived), is a particularly useful perspective to examine within-group heterogeneity. Thus, the goal of this special issue on “Typologies and Taxonomies of Family Business” is to (1) highlight the utility of using typologies and taxonomies in advancing family business research and (2) promote the use of these approaches in fostering a better understanding of the heterogeneity that exists among family firms, and how this heterogeneity might be linked to important organizational outcomes. With these goals in mind, this commentary provides a review of articles in the extant family business literature that have used typologies or taxonomic classifications to describe family businesses. Our review lays the foundation for the subsequent presentation of a synopsis of each of the four articles contained within the special issue. Finally, we conclude with a discussion of suggestions for future research using typologies and taxonomies and their application to family firm heterogeneity. We start by discussing the most common approach used.