The resilience of family firms: exploring the role of collaborative response with supply chain partners

The scholarly understanding of organizational resilience has gained momentum recently, in light of the numerous adversities that firms have encountered over the last years, encompassing health, geopolitical, environmental, and economic challenges. Although family firms are renowned for their resilience, the extent to which they capitalize on their supply chain relationships to effectively respond to and recover from adversity remains underexplored. This oversight is notable given the interconnected and interdependent nature of modern supply chains, which suggest that a firm's resilience is a collective achievement, extending beyond individual efforts. Moreover, for family firms these relationships are especially crucial as they are not just strategic ties but also integral part of their socioemotional wealth (SEW) endowment. To fill this gap we develop an interpretive research based on six case studies of Italian family firms addressing multiple unanticipated adversities in the years 2021-2023. Through a process-based approach, we observe that family firms develop a collaborative response with their supply chain partners, blending co-protecting and coadapting behaviors in the face of adversity. We also unveil the underlying determinants of this collaborative response and highlight its significant implications for the family firm, providing valuable insights into the mechanisms through which family businesses orchestrate their unique relational dynamics to enhance resilience.