Family-owned businesses are considered major role players of the economy around the world (IMF, 2001). Specifically, family-owned businesses in Honduras represent 90% of the small & medium enterprises and are key providers of employment (Scarlet Alvarez, 2013). The human resource management field of family-owned businesses has the peculiar characteristic of having the involvement of the family dimension within its form of organization. The family dimension can bring some challenges to the firm, therefore, the research question relating these two fields is stated as follows: how can family-own businesses reduce their unique challenges related to their “Family Trait” involvement in the firm, through the usage of adequate human resource practices?
The literature review supporting this investigation is composed by four main concepts: a. model of growth development of family-owned business (DMFB) proposed by Gersick (1997) in which family-owned businesses are identify in three dimensions with different stages of development (ownership, family & business) b. the influence of organizational culture in the strategies decided within the family-owned business c. family governance institutions proposed as practices to reduce challenges d. HRM practices within family-owned businesses and its role as a partner strategy with the governance institutions.
The methodology consisted of six family-owned business cases which were investigated with the help of virtual interviews held both simultaneously and non-simultaneously. The semi-structure questionnaire used for the interviews is found in the appendix. The analysis of patterns through the categorization of the interviews identify the following results: the cases were classified in three stages within the dimensions of ownership, family and business, stage #1 single-ownership; stage #3 Working together and stage #2 formalization/ expansion stage. This horizontal connection of stages allowed a better understanding of their challenges: a. centralized decision making b. communication problems c. higher qualification of family collaborators d. overestimation of the trust value within the family collaborators. The challenges helped answered the first part of the research question, which consisted of the identification of challenges related to the “family trait.” Then the family governance practices and HRM practices were identified as aiders in the reduction of these challenges in order for family-owned businesses transit from one stage to another in a more efficient way.

Abstract 2
Acknowledges 3
List of Figures 6
Abbreviation Dictionary 7
Chapter 1 Introduction 8
1.1 Research Background 8
1.2 Research Question and Objectives 9
1.3 Structure of the thesis 10
Chapter 2 Literature Review 12
2.1 Concept of Family- Owned Business a Business Approach 12
2.1.1 Family-owned Business Developmental Process 12
2.1.2 Family-Owned Business Governance & Culture 15
2.1.3 Family-owned Business in Latin America and Honduras 16
2.1.4 Honduras Family-Owned Businesses general characteristics study obtained from COHEP 18
2.2 Human Resource Management: Understanding the Concept of Organizational Capability 19
2.3 Human Resource Management in Family-Owned Business 20
2.3.1 Agency Theory and Family-Owned Business 20
2.4 Research Gap Identification and Propose of Research Question 22
2.5 Summary Chapter 2 23
Chapter 3 Research Design 25
3.1 Research Objectives and Conceptual Framework 25
3.1.1 Research Objectives 25
3.1.2 Conceptual Framework 25
3.2 Selection of Research Method 27
3.2.1 Research Design: The Case Study 28
3.2.2 Research Process 30
3.2.3 Unit of Analysis and Number of Cases 31
3.2.4 Sampling Strategy 33
3.2.5 Data Analysis 34
3.2.6 Research Quality 34
3.2.7 Limitations and Potential Bias 35
3.3 Summary Chapter 3 35
Chapter 4 Case Studies 37
4.1 Case 1: Family Owned Business A 37
4.2 Case 2: Family-Owned Business B 39
4.3 Case 3: Family Business Firm C 41
4.4 Case 4: Family-owned Business: D 44
4.5 Case 5 Family-owned BUSINESS: E 47
4.6 Case 6: Family-Owned Business F 49
Chapter 5 Cross-Case data analysis 55
5.1 Identification of the six Family Firm Cases in the DMFB 55
5.2 Common challenges presented by the cases; the DMFB practices suggested for solutions and the relationship of lack of formal HRM practices for family collaborators with these challenges 59
5.3 Family collaborators require following formal procedures from the HRM department of the firm 62
5.4 Summary of the Findings 64
Chapter 6 conclusions 66
6.1 Major Research Findings Contribution to the Theory 66
6.2 Research Limitations and future research 67
References 68
APPENDIX 71

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