Culturally-Sensitive Models of Family Business in Middle East A Compendium Using the Globe Paradigm

Family businesses are the dominant form of business organization throughout the world. Given the many cultures and regions that exist, growing empirical evidence suggests that one size does not fit all. Appropriately, different models of family businesses exist in different regions. While a growing body of knowledge about these differences exists, it tends to be centered on a few cultures (e.g., Anglo) and is dispersed throughout a wide array of publication outlets. The purpose of this project is to assemble and publish a single Compendium of family business models for each often different cultures from around the world. This Compendium is intended to be a useful resource for scholars, students, practitioners, and policy makers, containing both "classic" (previously published) and new (as yet unpublished) work.

Only a small body of knowledge exists on comparative cultural assessment of family businesses or forces influencing the working of different models of family businesses. The Compendium comprises ten volumes encompassing ten different cultural clusters of the world. The GLOBE framework (House et al., 2004; Gupta & Hanges, 2004) is used for classifying the cultural clusters into the following ten groups.

Dr. Vipin Gupta is Roslyn Solomon Jaffe Chair Professor of Strategy at Simmons College, Boston. Previously, he has taught at Grand Valley State University (2003-2005) and Fordham University (1997-2003). He has offered several training programs and workshops on strategic planning and cross-cultural management to senior executives, administrators, and defense personnel, and on research methods to the doctoral students and faculty in India and the US. He has been a visiting or guest faculty at more than twenty business schools in India, and is on the board of governors of many of them. His workshops and lectures have been covered by several leading national and regional newspapers and television channels of India.

Dr. Gupta has a Masters (1994), a Ph. D. (1998), and Post-Doc (1999-2003) in management from the Wharton School. He has been a gold medalist from Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (1990), a top rank holder in the B. Com. (Hons) Program of the Delhi University from Sri Ram College of Commerce (1988), an all-India prized rank holder of the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India (1988), and an all-India merit rank holder from Kendriya Vidyalaya in the 12th class examination of Central Board of Secondary Education. Dr. Gupta is a Principal Co-investigator of the GLOBE program (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness), on the study of culture, leadership styles, and organizational performance around the world. He is a winner of the coveted 2005 Scott Myers Award for Applied Research in the Workplace from Society for Industrial Organization Psychologists, USA. He has been a Family Owned Business Institute scholar (2004-05), a Japan Foundation fellow for a highly prestigious best dissertation proposal on Japan award (1994-1995), a research scholar at the University of Tokyo, Japan (1994-1995), and a finalist in the worldwide competition conducted by the United Nations on the Cultural Origins of Variations in Development (1995), and a Government of India National Talent Search Scholar (1984-90).

Dr. Gupta has authored a leading strategy textbook for the Indian market (Prentice Hall of India, 2005). He has edited/co-edited two critically acclaimed books on the theme of strategic management, performance, and leadership in the emerging markets. These are: "Creating Performing Organizations" (Sage India, 2003) and "Transformative Organizations" (Sage India, 2004), reviews on which have been published by a number of scholars in academic journals, magazines, and newspapers in India and abroad. He has also co-edited the internationally acclaimed and widely referenced seminal GLOBE book "Cultures, Leadership and Organizations - The GLOBE Study of 62 Societies" (Sage USA, 2004).

Dr. Gupta has published a number of refereed articles in leading international journals such as Journal of Business Venturing, Research in Organizational Behavior, Asia-Pacific Journal of Management, Multinational Business Review, Journal of World Business, Journal of Academy of Business and Economics, Advances in Global Leadership, Management Review, and The Asia Pacific Journal of Economics and Business. He has also presented papers in several conferences around the world, including Academy of Management, IFSAM, EGOS, SIOP, Global Entrepreneurship Conference, Family Enterprise Research Conference, and Hawaii International Conference. He has been a keynote speaker in many conferences.

Dr. Nancy Levenburg is Associate Professor in the Department of Management at Grand Valley State University, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA. She was named the "Research Advocate of the Year" for the State of Michigan in 2003 by the US Small Business Administration, and has been twice honored as a GVSU Family Owned Business Institute Research Scholar. Her research interests include small businesses, family businesses, and strategic planning in service organizations. Dr. Levenburg's articles have been published in Journal of Small Business Strategy, Family Business Journal, International Small Business Journal, Journal of Business Ethics, Information Systems Journal, and Case Research Journal. In 2006, she was invited by Madras Christian College to teach in India.

Dr. Lynda L Moore is Associate Professor at School of Management, Simmons College, Boston, USA. She is a 2007 Fulbright scholar to the United Arab Emirates where she will study women business leaders. For more than 25 years, Professor Moore has dedicated her teaching and research to the advancement and leadership of women and the management of diversity in organizations. Her articles have appeared in The Journal of Management Development, The Organizational Behavior Teaching Review, Personnel, The Journal of Behavioral and Applied Science, and Ms magazine, among others. Moore was the founding consultant and Acting Director of the Radcliffe Public Policy Institute at Harvard University. She continues to consult to numerous organizations. Dr. Moore was an active leader in the early stages of the study of women in management, providing national leadership to establish the discipline within the academy. Her book, "Not As Far As You Think", played an important role in the evolution of the women in management theory. She has made numerous presentations and co-authored several articles and cases on diversity among women managers and entrepreneurs. She is also the recipient of three Coleman foundation grants, to write cases on the successful leadership of minority women-owned business. She was co-recipient of the Small Business Administration's Woman in Business Advocate of the Year Award for Massachusetts and New England.

Dr. Jaideep Motwani is Chair and Professor of Management at the Seidman College of Business, Grand Valley State University, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA. He received his Ph. D. degree in Operations Management from University of North Texas. He has published more than 150 articles in prestigious journals including IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, Operations Research, Omega, Journal of Operational Research Society, European Journal of Operational Research, International Journal of Operations and Production Management, International Journal of Production Research, Journal of Small Business Management, International Journal of Small Business, and International Journal of Technology Management. He also serves on the Editorial Board of 12 prestigious national and international journals. Dr. Motwani serves as a consultant and trainer for a number of family and non-family organizations globally. He has also served on the Family Business Institute's Advisory Board from 2001 to 2006 and has been the recipient of the Family Business Scholar Award twice.

Dr. Thomas V Schwarz is currently Director of the Family Owned Business Institute and the Center for Entrepreneurship at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA. Tom joined Grand Valley in July of 2000. Earlier, Tom served as Chief Operating Officer and Treasurer for a local family business and as an entrepreneur/owner of several other family firms. Tom previously served on the Body of Knowledge Committee of the Family Firm Institute and was the Research Program Co-Director for the Boston 2004 and Chicago 2005 conferences and the founding co-editor of the organization's publication, Family Firm Practitioner. Tom has consulted with numerous firms and universities worldwide, most recently in Greece at the Athens University of Economics and Business. He received his doctorate in finance from Florida State University in 1984. Tom's publications have appeared in the Journal of Finance, The Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, The Journal of Banking & Finance, The Journal of Futures Markets, Financial Review, Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Finance, Journal of Multinational Financial Management, International Small Business Journal, Journal of Small Business Strategy, Family Business Review, Business Case Journal, as well as others.

"Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) studies in 62 societies of the world suggest that leading businesses master the fine balance between culturally-specific and universally applicable principles and practices.

This 11 book compendium set of 110 carefully selected articles that are written by about 300 scholars focuses on culturally-sensitive models of family businesses in 60 nations and 10 regions of the world. The eleventh volume is a compilation of articles on gender in family firms, providing insights in this important yet generally less understood arena.

The compendium is a timely and major contribution. It is a great resource for scholars and students interested in understanding the diversity and uniqueness of family firms around the world. Family business practitioners and policy makers seeking to enhance global collaborations and creating sustainable families, communities, and businesses will find this an invaluable resource." - Pramodita Sharma, Ph.D., Associate Dean of Business and Professor of Family Business, Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada.

"This compendium set is thought-provoking and path-breaking for practitioners and academics. The entire set comprises eleven books :
1) Latin America 2) Germanic Europe 3) Nordic Europe 4) Latin Europe 5) Eastern Europe 6) Sub-Saharan Africa 7) Middle East 8) Southern Asia 9) Confucian Asia 10) Anglo Region and 11) Gender

As an integral first phase for a broader research program, C.A.S.E. (Culturally-Sensitive Assessment System and Education), it offers comparative cultural analysis of family businesses and culturally-sensitive tools to create more successful families, businesses, and communities worldwide." - Joseph Horak, Ph.D., Horak Family and Psychological Services, President, C.A.S.E. Worldwide Group, L.L.C., USA.