Paradigms and Theory Building in the Domain of Business Families
论证家族企业研究作为独立学科的合理性，结合公认的学科演化过程与理论构建方法，提出商业家族领域的理论解释，并展示该学科在理论构建中的阶段及发展路径。
This article argues the bona fides of the study of family business as a standalone discipline. Using a widely accepted evolutionary process for the development of scientific disciplines and an established theory-building methodology, the author introduces a theoretically robust explanation of the domain of business families. Established theories widely acknowledged as having relevance to business families are meshed with the universally accepted three-circle Venn diagram-based paradigm to illustrate both the stage of the discipline in theory building terms and an evolutionary path to further develop a theory of the business family domain.