Abstract
Academic research shows that family firms – the most prevalent type of business organization around the world – make decisions about acquisitions differently. Some aspects of such distinct acquisition behavior have been identified clearly. For instance, family firms undertake acquisitions less often than nonfamily firms. Other aspects, however, are far less understood. Whether family firms are more or less inclined to acquire targets in similar or unrelated industries is one of these more controversial aspects of family firms’ acquisition behavior, which we investigate in our study published in the Journal of Management Studies.