FIFTY FOUR DEGREES | 13 stewardship. At the same time, there was unease about this notion as it could be seen as too paternal, with the idea of guardianship being proposed as a possible alternative framing. What both these words imply is a need to take a longer-term perspective of organising, something that often comes more readily to family businesses. Finally, there is the need to think carefully and profoundly about the places where resilience might be located. Place was a theme developed by Susan Murray (the Director of the David Hume Institute) in more depth, providing a clear connection to the ecosystems themes from other speakers, as well as the potentially pivotal role that family business can play in providing economic anchors in local communities. A discussion around place and its relevance for our understanding of resilience of family business also emerged between members of the Family Business Community (Sue Howorth), the chair of family entrepreneurship at Audencia Business School (Professor Miruna RaduLefebvre) and the head of research for the Work Foundation (Melanie Wilkes). The discussion brought to light that environmental, social and economic changes affect family businesses and the places in which they operate, whether they are local or international. Such changes bring challenges in terms of the way family businesses may be managed for the long run, but also highlight the unique resources and strategies family businesses employ to become and remain resilient amidst uncertainty. Our event highlighted the value of bringing multiple perspectives to bear on complex issues, and also the benefit of zooming in and out between different scales. There is a need to maintain a focus on macro challenges while providing insight at mesoorganisational level and into micro everyday practices. At all these scales, economic, social and technological changes will challenge family businesses, alongside their business partners. Moreover, resilience is not solely focused on absorbing change, but also on adaptive and transformative capacity. This makes resilience a useful conceptual tool for examining systems, and what outcomes may be sought by individuals and organisations in these systems. There was also an important recognition that diversity increases resilience, and is required across the social-ecological system and in the routes we take to identify and tackle the challenge of developing more resilient and sustainable organisations. Professor Jan Bebbington is Director of the PentlandCentre for Sustainability inBusiness, the Rubin Chair for Sustainability in Business, and amember of the Department of Accounting and Finance. Dr Allan Discua Cruz is Director of the Centre for FamilyBusiness at Lancaster University, and a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Entrepreneurship and Strategy. Ben Harrison is Director of theWork Foundation. Professor Valerie Stead is Director of the Academy for Gender,Work and Leadership, and amember of the Department of Entrepreneurship and Strategy. j.bebbington1@lancaster.ac.uk; a.discuacruz@lancaster.ac.uk; b.harrison1@lancaster.ac.uk; v.stead@lancaster.ac.uk Find out more about the Resilience and Family BusinessWorkshop event here: www.lancaster.ac.uk/pentland/newsand-events/resilience-familybusiness-2022/
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