Family businesses: Building a merger and acquisition research agenda

Family businesses dominate the economic landscape and contribute to the market for corporate control across the globe, either as acquiring companies or as tar-get. However, there is still limited research investigating acquisitions by or of family firms. The authors begin to remedy this gap by providing a narrative review of extant research. Findings indicate that acquisitions in family firms are primarily regarded as a tool to solve succession problems, and not as a strategic tool to achieve growth. A greater dialog between acquisition and family business scholars can be an important means to improve theory and practice of acquisitions involving family businesses across the globe.