Resiliency in Family Businesses: Contributions from Family Science
Joseph J. Horak,Robert E. Lee

Abstract
“Resiliency” is a synergistic collection of attributes of individuals and their families that allows them to (a) stand up to stress and (b) grow from it. Extension of this model to family businesses is inchoate. Resiliency is being explored as a stable characteristic of family functioning in its business. This variable also is expected to have an intuitive relationship to family business “sustainability”. Resiliency in family-run businesses is assessed by an on-line Q-sort wherein individuals involved in family-run businesses individually and/or collectively describe that business according to characteristics known to be associated with resilient family systems. Ongoing development requires a substantial number of participants across diverse family business settings. Such a growing sample will allow psychometric-based strengthening of the assessment device and useful comparisons within and between family business types: family involvement only; family as management team; new v. multi-generational family businesses; family-run businesses demonstrating diverse levels of "stability", “growth”, and “success”.

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