HELLO THERE! Professor Leif Melin – newly awarded honorary doctorate at Linnaeus University

The award is both a personal recognition and an acknowledgement of the success of his and his colleagues’ family business research. Professor Emeritus Leif Melin, Jönköping International Business School (JIBS), has helped build an entire field – and despite his retirement age, is still active in research projects with colleagues around the world. In this interview, he reflects on family business and why ownership competence is an underestimated key issue.

Congratulations on being awarded an honorary doctorate at Linnaeus University! What does it mean to you?

– It is honorable and flattering, especially at this stage of my career. For me, it is a sign that I have done something right, but above all, it is a recognition of the long-lasting collaboration with colleagues and doctoral students. This kind of award is rarely about one person’s effort – it is a team effort.

You were one of the founders of the Jönköping International Business School and the Family Business Research Center, CeFEO. Can you tell us about the vision you had when you started?

– In the mid-1990s, there was almost no research on family entrepreneurship, despite it being the dominant form of business in both Sweden and the world. When I received a major research grant in 1995, I started to build up the field by engaging colleagues and new PhD students, and a few years later we started CeFEO – Center for Family Entrepreneurship and Ownership. The vision was clear: to help develop family business research internationally, and to make it interdisciplinary.

What trends do you see in family business today?

– Generational change has long been a key area of research, but in recent years the focus has increasingly shifted to the psychosocial and emotional aspects. It is about relationships, conflicts and how decisions affect family dynamics.

– In a recent study we published, we saw how a decision to sell a business – taken by the father without dialogue with the adult children – created deep conflict and division.

You have mentioned psychological ownership. What does that mean?

– It is not about formal ownership, but about the feeling that the business is ‘mine’. Many children in family businesses feel a strong sense of psychological ownership long before they receive financial shares. This feeling influences how they act, their identity and their relationships. Understanding this dynamic is central to understanding family business.

What are the most under-researched areas in the field right now?

– Responsible ownership is gaining ground internationally and is something CeFEO is now focusing on. It encompasses sustainability, long-term thinking and ownership responsibility in general. Related to this, ownership competence is another area that is growing. Traditionally, we have talked a lot about leadership, but being a professional owner requires a different type of competence.

Why is owner competence so important?

– Many families underestimate the knowledge required to be an owner. It’s about understanding governance, strategy, finance and not least the internal dynamics of the family. Often, the older generation looks at who among their children would be the “best business manager”, but forgets that you can be a very competent owner without being operational in the company.

What skills need to be strengthened in family businesses today?

– Governance structures are key. Many families have family or owner councils, but rarely with an external and neutral chairperson – which can be crucial for managing conflict. To work, those involved also need to understand strategic and financial issues, while navigating relational and psychological challenges.

What makes family businesses so fascinating as a research field?

– Their long-term perspective. Many family businesses have a longer time perspective than other owners, and a strong sense of responsibility. This means that sustainability issues are often naturally integrated into the business. At the same time, it is a field full of relationships, conflicts, identities and emotions – making it both complex and very human.

What are the main risks in a family business?

– Most tragically, generational changes lead to deep conflicts that break up families. Unfortunately, this happens more often than you might think. At the same time, it is precisely these relational dimensions that make this area so interesting to research.

Contact leif.melin@ju.se

More about the appointment
Linnaeus University School of Economics has appointed Leif Melin, Professor Emeritus of Business Administration at Jönköping University, to an honorary doctorate at Linnaeus University with (excerpt from) the motivation: “Through his academic leadership and his groundbreaking research on family business and entrepreneurship, Leif Melin has been a source of inspiration for research at Linnaeus University and has greatly promoted scientific development. ”