ANALYSIS OF FAMILIAR BUSINESSES AND THEIR DIFFICULTIES IN THE PROFESSIONALIZATION PROCESS | ANÁLISE DE EMPRESAS FAMILIARES E SUAS DIFICULDADES NO PROCESSO DE PROFISSIONALIZAÇÃO

Resumo

Our study aims to identify the main difficulties faced by family and non-family managers in the process of a family business professionalization. The method applied is initially characterized as exploratory, resulting from the need to search the literature produced on this topic. Our method was the multiple case studies, with three family businesses with family and non-family managers. Information and data collection were carried out with pre-scheduled interviews with CEOs and business managers while following a semi-structured script. We applied open-ended questions, which were carried out individually, recorded and transcribed with the goal of highlighting common points in the reports of the interviewees, as well as confronting them. We analyzed the content based on the theoretical foundation carried out qualitatively. Thus, we were able to confront the theory to the firms’ reality, making it possible to reach the main goal of this study. The interviewees assigned the difficulties of the professionalization to some common factors among them, such as lack of feedback, overconfidence, miscommunication, and favoritism. These characteristics were confirmed by the interviewees. It is evident that despite the difference of each firm lifespan, the common ground is the same, and the difficulties in the process of professionalization are also similar regardless of the stage of the process.