Preparing to read a research

article
From: Hewings and Thaine (2012)
Typical journal article outline
Have a look at the article below:
• file:///Users/mac/Documents/TEACHING/MATRIKULASI MM UNAND_
ACADEMIC ENGLISH/Return on capital in Spanish tourism businesses-
A comparative analysis of family vs non-family businesses.pdf
So?
• What is literature review?
• A description and evaluation of previous works.
• A task that (likely) continues throughout the duration of the research.
• Why doing literature review?
• To find sources relevant to the study.
• To check the proposed study has not been previously carried out.
• If yes; negative contribution to knowledge
• If not; positive contribution to knowledge
• To be able to argue that the study is important (filling the gap).
Critical Literature Review
• Not only describe previous pieces of research, but also
• Highlight the relationship between them, in terms of:
• Differences
• Similarities
• For instance:
Similarities …
• Allouche et al. (2008), based on a sample of 1271 listed companies in Japan,
demonstrate that family firms outperform non-family firms in terms of
financial indicators (Return On Assets – ROA, Return On Equity – ROE,
Return On Invested Capital, ROIC). Chu (2009) found that the influence of
family ownership on performance (measured with ROA and Tobin’s q) is
positive for SMEs in Taiwan. Lindow et al.’s (2010) study based on a sample
of 171 German family firms also shows that family firms play an important
role in the achievement of strategic fit and, in turn, superior financial perfor-
mance (measured with the ROE, ROA and subjective measurement).
Although it is a weak effect, Wagner et al. (2015) also found that family
firms show superior financial performance compared to non-family firms, on
the basis of a meta-analysis.
Similarities
• On the basis of RBV, agency theory and stewardship theory studies like those by Anderson and Reeb
(2003), Westhead and Howorth (2006) and Maury (2006) find that family involvement is an effective
form of control, providing incentive structures resulting in fewer agency conflicts, and costs, leading to
better financial and market value performance by family businesses. Specifically, Anderson and Reeb
(2003), using the Standard & Poors 500 firms, show that when a family member serves as CEO,
performance (measured with ROA and Tobin’s q) is better than with an outside CEO. Westhead and
Howorth (2006), analysing data from privately held family firms in the United Kingdom, show that firms
with high levels of family ownership and management were not significantly associated with superior
performance indicators. However, their research provides evidence that the family firms with larger
teams of directors and managers have greater levels of growth in sales and revenues. Maury (2006),
analysing a sample of 1672 non- financial firms in Western Europe, also found that active family control
increases profitability (measured with ROA and Tobin’s q) compared to non-family firms. Lee (2006),
based on a sample of 403 firms, confirms that family businesses tend to obtain higher employment and
revenue growth when founding family members are involved in management. The findings obtained by
Barontini and Caprio (2006) and Sraer and Thesmar (2007) are also consistent with these results,
highlighting the benefits of the family’s involvement in management.
Literature Review involve lots of REFERENCING.
Why do we do referencing?
Next … skill (writing)
Writing summaries from
multiple sources
Summarising Strategies
• Reword a phrase
• Change clause to
adverb
• Use a synonym PARAPHRASING
• Change a verb form
Writing summaries from multiple sources
• See also Hewings and Thaine 2012, p.33-34.
Try to summarise the information from
multiple sources below: