Family Business and Risk Management: Perspectives of SMEs Entrepreneurs in Indonesia

This study aims to explore the specific risks in family small-medium enterprises (SMEs) and explain how they manage these risks to sustain and expand. In Indonesia, family business composes around 95 percent of all businesses and contributes about 80 percent to the country’s economy. SMEs contribute approximately 57.8 percent to the nation’s gross domestic product. Risk management poses challenges to the family business’s survival, as family members do not take actions on risk. The assessment of risk is difficult and family businesses lack the ability to determine risk management priorities, including risk management review processes to evaluate risk, thus leading to family business failures. Applying the case study approach, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted in seven family SMEs comprising fifteen informants. Additionally, a focus group discussion consisting of three experts is conducted to reaffirm the findings from the interviews, observations, and field notes. The research identified the specific risks and how the family owners strategize to safeguard against these risks such as cash flow deficiency, operations dysfunction, cultural frailty, disharmony, transgenerational entrepreneurship failure, political uncertainty, and unprofessionalism. Comprehending these risks and their strategic decisions elucidated in this research could enable the family owners and key non-family professionals to work hand-in-hand to thrive over the family business risks together. Further avenues of research regarding family business risk management are also suggested in this study.