August 03rd 2021

New publication: Family Business Center

Family Business center publishes the book “Resiliency models and addressing future risks for family firms in the tourism industry”

Family businesses are of particular importance in tourism as the majority of businesses are family owned and run. The book combines the research areas of family businesses and tourism with a focus on the hospitality industry in order to address current challenges of sustainability and resilience. The editorship of Prof. habil. Anita Zehrer and her team at the Family Business center show that family businesses in tourism are optimistic about the Covid pandemic and can compensate for the loss of income through strong organizational resilience. The book combines a variety of authors discussing relevant topics throughout the chapters.

Zacher and Pechlaner combine the entrepreneurial resilience of family businesses in the tourism sector through coordinated resilience-generating processes such as toolkits and resilience strategies at destination level and thus strengthen the tourist network of the destinations for challenges such as the Covid pandemic.

Numerous case studies illustrate theoretical foundations. Thus Bechthold, Lude, and Prügl identify organizational ambidexterity as a factor for entrepreneurial resilience. Glowka and Zehrer interview different generations of family entrepreneurs and illustrate differences in risk perception, while Vlatka and Skokic engage in the case study Croatia, where they develop resilience through proactive actions during external changes in the country's history, such as EU accession or war. Finally, the section “Digitalizing the Tourism Product: Risk or Opportunity?” investigates the possibility of using social media as an instrument for crisis communication, while Veréb and Azevedo contribute to understanding the risk perception of travelers in crises.

In addition to numerous contributions from researchers working at the MCI, Prof. Maximilian Lude (TUM School of Management - Heilbronn Campus), Prof. Harald Pechlaner (Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt), Prof. Reinhard Prügl (Friedrichshafen Institute for Family Entrepreneurship Zeppelin University) and Prof. Mike Peter (University of Innsbruck) with exciting contributions.

Editors: Zehrer, A., Glowka, G., Schwaiger, K. M., & Ranacher-Lackner, V. (2021). Resiliency models and addressing future risks for family firms in the tourism industry (Advances in hospitality, tourism, and the services industry (AHTSI) book series). Hershey, PA: IGI Global, Business Science Reference (an imprint of IGI Global).

For further information, please get in touch with:

Anita Zehrer
Head of Family Business Center
+43 512 2070 – 7110
anita.zehrer@mci.edu

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Anita Zehrer and Gundula Glowka (left to right) with the book. Photo: MCI-Nickel.

Anita Zehrer and Gundula Glowka (left to right) with the book. ©MCI-Nickel.