Sustaining the family business with minimal financial rewards: How do family farms continue?

We engaged in a multicase comparative study exploring how family farm businesses continue when economic returns are minimal. We analyzed strategic approaches used by 20 family dairy farms operating in the United Kingdom and identified four different strategic behaviors chosen by the family farm businesses—diversifying the business, maximizing debt, sacrificing family needs, and compromising. Each strategy allows the firm to survive, but has consequences for the family, the business, or both. Our study contributes to the socioemotional wealth literature by showing how emotional attachment to the business can influence firm decision making.