Professor Veneta Andonova, who was the host, remarked that the visit of professor Duran was an excellent opportunity to strengthen the professional connections between faculty members, particularly in the areas of Strategy, International Business and Entrepreneurship.
Professor Duran’s research studied the prevalence of family firms and their behavior in different countries characterized by diverse cultural and institutional environments. According to Durán, in the recent years there was an increase of research about family firm but only a few studies linked family firms’ behavior to their context. Patricio Duran and his research team conducted a meta-analytical study that adhered to recently established guidelines for rigorous meta-analytic research in management and economics reviewing hundreds of research pieces on the matter.
According to the results of their analysis, the relative prevalence of family firms in different countries depended on culturally determined contextual values. Duran explained that the family firms were more legitimate and therefore performed better in some contexts than in others. Family firms also took into account the interests of family members and this affected company decision-making.
ABOUT HIS VISIT
Patricio Durán holds a Ph.D. in Business Administration – International Business from the Darla Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina (2015). He is Assistant Professor at Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez and is the Academic Director of the CEMS Master of Science in International Management. Patricio teaches strategy, global strategy, and family firms courses for MBA, Master, and Ph.D. programs.
His main research interests are, business strategy, global strategy, and family firms. His research has been published in prestigious academic journals such as the Academy of Management Journal, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, and Journal of World Business. Throughout his academic career he has obtained several recognitions such as: the 2016 International Management Division D’Amore-McKim School of Business, Northeastern University, Best Dissertation Award, Academy of Management; 2016 Organization and Management Theory Best International Paper Award, Academy of Management; 2015 Jürgen-Hauschildt-Award of the Commission for Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship; the 2015 International Family Enterprise Research Academy (IFERA) Ph.D. Research Proposal Award; among others.
Professor Durán has relevant professional work experience in Chile and abroad. He held executive positions in multinational companies and worked in strategy consulting for large companies in the mining, retail, financial retail, and agribusiness sectors.
According to Professor Andonova, “Durán is one of the most successful young Latin American scholars in the fields of family businesses and internationalization (…) The active involvement of Prof. Duran in a 3-hour research seminar in the context of the PhD course in Strategy is also important as it exposes a large number of young researchers to a best-in-class researcher.