Evaluation of the Significance of the Objectives and Strategies of Family Businesses Using the AHP and ANP Methods

Family business plays an irreplaceable role in the economy of any country, business communities, individual families, and family goals. One of the key issues that distinguishes them from non-family businesses is the existence of non-financial goals. The aim of the research presented here is to find out how family business owners assess the importance of their identified objectives and what strategy they prefer to achieve them. Research questions and hypotheses regard possible differences in the evaluation of importance by respondents from two different countries. The respondents are family business owners from the Czech Republic and Pakistan. Given the great historical, economic, and cultural differences between the two countries, large differences in the attitudes of family business owners are expected. Based on the questionnaire and interviews, the key objectives were identified and strategies to achieve them. Approximately 400 valid responses were obtained from each country. The analytic hierarchy method and analytic network method were used to assess significance. The significance of the relationships between clusters, i.e. the objectives, and also between the elements of the clusters was assessed. It was found that long-term survival and sustainability are significantly more prevalent among respondents in both countries. Handing over the business to descendants is the most important objective of family business owners in both countries. However, differences were found between the ratings of different generations of owners, and according to the size and age of the businesses. The research presented here has provided another perspective on the issue of family business. The practical outcome for family business owners is to identify the most appropriate strategy to obtain desired objectives. This identification can also be an incentive for government or regional institutions to support family business in their country or region.