Adaptation Under Environmental Turmoil: Organizational Flexibility in Family-Owned Firms

This article examines the process of organizational adaptation and competitiveness of family-owned firms in an emerging economy. The study is set in the Argentinean context of the 1990s when a combination of economic and political changes triggered a large-scale transformation in the competitive context of indigenous firms. Two family firms from the edible oil industry, one highly flexible and the other less so, are studied. Longitudinal data are supplied in an effort to explore the determinants of organizational flexibility in these firms.