Dr Rob Smith, The Centre for Entrepreneurship, E-mail – r.smith-a@rgu.ac.uk

1. His Masters’ voice: Discussing ‘Matriarchal Leadership’ in Family Business as a form of Entrepreneurial Enactment Dr Rob Smith, The Centre for Entrepreneurship, E-mail –r.smith-a@rgu.ac.uk

2. WHO IS REALLY HIS MASTERS VOICE?

3. BRIDGING THE CULTURES BETWENENTREPRENEURSHIP AND FAMILY BUSINESS In Western societies entrepreneurial men are hero figures giving rise to the dominant narrative of the masculine entrepreneur. The role their wives, partners, family and employees play in this socio-economic pantomime are often left unstated. Male entrepreneurs become the figureheads of family businesses being ascribed ‘Master Status’. Entrepreneurs are thus presented as a new ‘Master Race’ of heroes? The ‘Matriarch figure’ presents a viable alternative !

4. The paper challenges the universality of traditional renditions of family businesses as entrepreneur stories. • In the telling the stories it also re-examines and challenges accepted wisdom thereby building up a discussion, which confronts accepted theories of entrepreneurship and family business. • It is intended to stimulate debate and open a dialogue between researchers and practitioners. • The main themes are ‘The Matriarchal Voice’ and ‘Matriarchal and Entrepreneurial Leadership’. • The main argument of the paper is that the Matriarch thus acts as ‘His Masters Voice’ because ultimately in all things familial she is after all his master. • It is a paper about ‘bossy women’ but not in a derogatory way. • SO DON’T SHOOT THE MESSENGER!

5. THEORETICAL UNDERPINNING Wilson et al (2007) discuss many gendered difficulties found by women in business Obtaining finance; being subject to discrimination; not being treated as credible; not being taken seriously; being patronized or ignored; difficulty in penetrating male dominated networks; They rely on informal networks / family savings / Household Incomes. They exert control upon their immediate evirons.

6. THEORETICAL UNDERPINNINGS…. cont This paper is embedded in the literature of family business and extends the literature on Co-preneurs and Entrepreneurial families. The Matriarch is an archetypal figure – thus is but one of many possible readings of femininity such as Amazon, the Mother and the Crone. These conform to life stages. Yet the Matriarch is a Cultural Stereotype!In Ethnic communities we have the ‘Momma’ stereotype and in American Society we have the ‘Self-made Mom’. The concept of habitus (Bourdieu, 1986).

7. KEY ELEMENTS OF MATRIARCHY Webster (1975) - Power and Control. Adler (1982) – Spirituality / familial wellbeing. Martin (2004) - Family Governance. Hearn (1996) - Storytellers / authoring family history. Powers (2000) - Matriarch is a heroine in Western literature. Therefore why are there so few studies of the Matriarch in the literatures of family business and entrepreneurship? Exceptions are Campbell (2002) and Raffey (2000) both of which discuss the ‘Matriarchal Voice’.

8. METHODOLOGY, OBSERVATIONS, INFERENCES AND ETHICAL DILEMMAS Observational practices – watching and listening (Adler & Adler, 1992). Unobtrusive (or naturalistic) observation (Robson, 2002).Inferences are drawn from observations. Ethical dilemma of having no respondents as such and upon reporting upon real events. Pseudonyms are used to protect identities and the events are narrated as stories. Is it ethical – you decide after you hear the stories?

9. RESEARCH QUESTIONS 1. Can ‘Matriarchal Leadership’, within the setting of a family business, be reconstructed as a form of entrepreneurial enactment or as a particular form of entrepreneurial narrative? 2. What significance does this have for our understanding of entrepreneurial narrative? Also a focus on Familial and Business Crises. Now we turn to the case stories… of Ann and Alice.

10. ANALYSIS OF THE CASE STORIES Both case stories demonstrate clear evidence of strong ‘Matriarchal Leadership’. Such leadership is direct and ‘authoritarian as opposed to ‘authoritative’ in the sense understood by Danziger (1971). When exercised in a crises it takes on the countenance of a direct command which others(the family included) ignore at their own peril. It is not a manifestation of masculine weakness but about men standing by their partners. However they are two very different stories.

11. SOME TENTATIVE CONCLUSIONS • Matriarchal leadership may be akin to a form of ‘Entrepreneurial Capital’ as articulated by Firkin (2003). • Sanday (1998:1) views ‘Matriarchy’ as an everyday social practice. • To return to Wilson et al (2007) in relation to gendered difficulties faced by women in business, despite the different outcomes both Ann and Alice were not subject to discrimination within the confines of their family businesses. Being at the prime of their life and in happy successful marriages, finance was not an issue. Nor was discrimination an issue within their businesses. No one could ignore either women if familial pride was at stake. • Exercising the ‘Voice of Reason’ (Raffey, 2000)!

12. ANSWERING THE RESEARCH QUESTIONS –DISCUSS? Research Question 1 “Can ‘Matriarchal Leadership’, within the setting of a family business, be reconstructed as a form of entrepreneurial enactment or as a particular form of entrepreneurial narrative? The case stories appear to confirm this!

13. ANSWERING THE RESEARCH QUESTIONS –CONT.. RESEARCH QUESTION 2. “What significance does this have for our understanding of entrepreneurial narrative? It clearly has immense significance because it presents an exciting opportunity for female entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship scholars for whom heroic entrepreneruial narrative does not resonate to find an alternative format for telling stories embodying their entrepreneurial ‘habitus’.

14. Being a ‘Matriarchal’ figure within family businesses is very much about selflessly performing an entrepreneurial role. It is not about adopting the identity of an entrepreneur. To do so the Matriarch becomes her husbands voice and by extension his ‘Masters’ Voice.

15. Any Questions !