Marketing the 'family' in family firms : case study research

This thesis investigates the marketing activities of two distinct family businesses. The main focus of this is with regards to the way in which, and the extent to which, family firms use their familial nature in promoting the firm to customers. This is important as there is very little research into the influence of familiness on the actions of family firms from a marketing perspective. As such, this thesis goes some way to address this sizable gap by introducing a number of key considerations. These include, the perceived advantages and disadvantages of this inherent familial nature from those involved in family firms, the influence this has on the firm's marketing and promotion activities, and how it links with the notion of a family brand. The study tests theories of familiness and relationship marketing with regards to two case businesses. It concludes that, although familiness and relationship marketing techniques are clearly evident in both businesses, only one firm chooses to explicitly promote its familial nature. As such, it is proposed that the family firms in question do use familiness as a strategic resource in shaping their relationship marketing campaigns, but in different ways. Therefore, it is possible to split the marketing activities of family firms into two distinct categories: those which utilise the family nature of the firm in promoting the business, and those which actively avoid this.

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