Life cycle stages and Brazilian family business profiles

ABSTRACT The distinctive features of family firms, such as family influence, add complexity to organizational life-cycle models in terms of the different stages of development. This research analyzes the relationship between stages of the organizational life cycle proposed by Lester et al. (2003) and the elements of influence of the F-PEC family (power, experience, and culture). The study was developed through a sample of 117 Brazilian family companies, without the participation of companies with shares traded on the stock exchange, and employed statistical treatment of the data through a structural equation model. As a result, the elements of F-PEC were partially identified in the sample. Power indicates the control of the company by the family, experience indicates the role of the different generations, and culture indicates the values of the controllers. In particular, it should be pointed out that, at birth, power and culture play important roles; in maturity, experience and culture stand out, and in rejuvenation, power and culture have been identified as characteristic. As an exploratory analysis, the article contributes to the understanding of organizations, by indicating the development of comparative analyses and performance on the variables that provide migration planning to more desirable stages, such as growth, maturity, and rejuvenation.