The family business brand : cross-fertilization between fields

Abstract

Following a bibliometric approach, this study examines research on brand and branding in family businesses to identify influential sources and main areas of knowledge, proposes an integrative framework that provides a holistic perspective of this field with an interdisciplinary cross-fertilization view, and explores new avenues for future research and practice. Based on 449 bibliographic references retrieved from the Web of Science database through a systematic process, we employed bibliographic coupling analysis to visualize the relationships among key works in the field, and subsequently performed a literature review to deepen the analysis. The bibliographic coupling analysis structured the existing research into six thematic clusters. Four of them follow an internal perspective and focus on family business identity and its influence on the construction of corporate brand identity, whereas the other two follow an external perspective that explores how family business brands are communicated and perceived by stakeholders and the influence of corporate brands and branding on family business image and reputation. Drawing from an in-depth review of the literature, this study offers a novel integrative framework, together with a set of proposals with managerial and theoretical implications. The proposed framework aims to clarify the relationship between internal identity and management to build and communicate a family business brand. The study also shows the symbiosis that exists among family values, corporate reputation, brand equity, and awareness in family businesses. The existing interconnection between the family and business generates unique associations that are difficult to imitate. This study is the first documented attempt at a bibliometric analysis of brands and branding in family businesses, which serves to clarify the linkages between different research streams and connecting marketing, organization, and family business literature to guide future research. Moreover, our integrative framework provides researchers and practitioners with a better understanding of its scope, highlighting the importance of corporate brand strategies beyond the boundaries of marketing departments.