Family Business and Crisis: A Psycho-social Research Experience

In this paper a case of family business and crisis, from a psycho-social research perspective experience, will be addressed through the presentation and discussion of a vignette of a European family business that was affected by the economic and market crisis and decline. The research question was about where the origin of the crisis was in this context and how to reach a deep understanding about its causes. The vignette will show the complexity in identifying the reasons for the crisis. It will be argued that crisis is a complicated, overwhelming, and overarching issue that embraces personal, group, organisational, and social dimensions and levels. In a family business different systems are operating: family, business, and ownership (Gersick et al., 1997). In such a context, a psycho-social methodology and methods, a multidisciplinary and trans-disciplinary approach based on a psychoanalytic framework interpenetrated with disciplines such sociology, organisational studies, group relations, and others, can add important insights about the emotional dimension and the impact of social and class aspects in understanding crisis and its origins.