The place of the family firm in a traditional industry undergoing rapid social, economic and technological change: an investigation into some of the problems faced by family firms in the British printing industry

Part 1 of the thesis traces the development of family firms and describes some of their characteristics. It examines problems of change facing business organisations generally at the present time and describes some of the ways in which these are likely to be particularly acute in family owned concerns. It concludes by considering the relevance of organisational theory to these problems. Part 2 describes the research methodology adopted for the study and its rationale. Part 3 is a description of the British printing industry—the industry in which the work was carried out. Part 4 contains comparative studies of firms which were selected by the investigator to represent family firms at various stages of development. This section ends with an analysis of the ways in which the six firms concerned were coping with the changes they faced. The conclusions include an examination of the role of the family firm in contemporary society and offers some suggestions for ways in which such enterprises can meet the challenge of change.