What is it about?
This is the story of the first hostile takeover on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Although the 2008 acquisition of the family firm W. Kruk by Vistula & Wólczanka succeeded, the ousted Kruk family soon regained control of the merged entity, renamed the Vistula Group, by engineering a reverse takeover. The concept of socioemotional wealth helps to explain this outcome: the idea that owners of family firms value non-economic aspects of their businesses, such as the ability to preserve a family dynasty and its values.
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Why is it important?
This case study demonstrates the importance of socioemotional wealth to family firms and suggests that financial gains and losses are not the only factors that affect takeover outcomes. It also sheds light on the ability of shareholders to change control via general shareholders’ meetings, a key aspect of Polish corporate governance.
Perspectives
It was a pleasure to write this article with my co-author from the University of Gdansk, with whom I have had long standing collaborations. The events depicted in the case study demonstrate the connection between firm behaviour and the relatively new concept of socioemotional wealth.
Kevin Campbell
University of Stirling
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Contested takeovers of family firms and socioemotional wealth: a case study, Baltic Journal of Management, October 2017, Emerald,
DOI: 10.1108/bjm-12-2016-0277.
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