Professionalization and Managerialization in Family Firms: A Still Open Issue

This chapter reviews the extant literature on managerialization and professionalization, highlighting the main and overlapping differences between the two concepts. Professionalization and managerialization are viewed as business challenges as they need to be dealt with for the family business to survive. These challenges are discussed, and their determinants and effects in terms of organizational performance are examined. Published case studies on professionalization and managerialization are investigated using the theoretical perspectives most often considered in the literature. The chapter uses a systemic view approach to emphasize the need to tackle the above challenges.