Stakeholder management, firm growth, and entrepreneurial values: emerging patterns from family firms that out-perform competitors

Moving from the recent call for studies that link ethics and strategic decision making and from a lack of academic research that connects firm growth to stakeholder management, we adopt a case study research to contribute to advancing theory on this topic by focusing on five Italian, family-owned firms that reached a leadership position or, at least, climbed into their industry rankings over a long time span. Following a mid-range, theory building approach, we develop a theoretical model showing that outperforming competitors rests upon: (i) a idiosyncratic and sustainable growth process; (ii) a hierarchical model of stakeholder management; and (iii) an entrepreneurial value system that bridges both of them into an integrated corporate strategy.