Pietro Gottardo – författare

This book analyzes the impacts that family control of firms has on capital structure choices, leverage and the risk of financial distress, earnings management practices, and the relation between accounting choices and firm market value. For these purposes, longitudinal data on Italian family and non-family non-financial firms are closely analyzed. The Italian setting is of special interest in this context because family businesses account for 94% of GDP, families are particularly committed to maintaining control of firms, and the economy is bank based rather than market based. The analyses draw on the socioemotional wealth approach, which emphasizes the importance of the stock of emotional value in family firms, in combination with financial theories such as Pecking Order Theory, Trade-off Theory, and Agency Theory. The findings cast significant new light on differences between family and non-family firms and the effects of different forms of family influence. The book will have broadappeal for academics, managers, practitioners, and policymakers.

This book analyzes the impacts that family control of firms has on capital structure choices, leverage and the risk of financial distress, earnings management practices, and the relation between accounting choices and firm market value. For these purposes, longitudinal data on Italian family and non-family non-financial firms are closely analyzed. The Italian setting is of special interest in this context because family businesses account for 94% of GDP, families are particularly committed to maintaining control of firms, and the economy is bank based rather than market based. The analyses draw on the socioemotional wealth approach, which emphasizes the importance of the stock of emotional value in family firms, in combination with financial theories such as Pecking Order Theory, Trade-off Theory, and Agency Theory. The findings cast significant new light on differences between family and non-family firms and the effects of different forms of family influence. The book will have broadappeal for academics, managers, practitioners, and policymakers.

This book explores ESG-related controversies in European family firms using bibliometric analysis to reveal seven thematic clusters that shape the current knowledge of risk in family enterprises. From ownership and board structure to innovation, internationalization, emotional dynamics, and crisis resistance, each cluster is examined to find its theoretical foundation, conceptual linkage, and managerial implications. To address persistent blind spots in the current literatures, the authors present a study based on various European listed companies examining how governance characteristics such as family ownership, board diversity, presence of family members on the board and board size affect the likelihood of ESG controversies in family firms versus non-family firms. The book concludes by outlining priority areas for future research, including governance and disclosure, succession and financial structure, innovation and digitization, ESG and reputational risk, and institutional context. This book is essential for scholars, students, researchers in family business, corporate governance, and strategic management as well as practitioners and policymakers concerned with ESG performance, sustainability, and long-term resilience in family firms.