FAMILY BUSINESSES: THE COMPLEXITY OF CONTINUITY

Family businesses occupy a prominent position in the Brazilian business, for their contribution to the economy. Many large Brazilian companies are (or have been) familiar in essence, that number could be even higher were it not for the complexities faced by these companies during their generations. Because of this, justified the study to address the organizational and managerial practices of these companies, with the overall objective of research to investigate and analyze the processes of professionalization and management of family businesses are small, industry segment, in the Vale of Bells (RS), in order to understand and relate the impact of such processes in fact these companies. For this, the theoretical basis, it is well known among the principal authors searched for the following: Bernhoeft and Gallo (2003); Bornholdt (2005); Casillas, Vazquez and Diaz (2007), Freitas and Frezza (2005), Oliveira (1999, 2006). To develop this study, we applied the methodology for exploratory research, performing literature-based case study, and the Transformation of Soft Leather Ltda. The object of this, a family company dedicated to the leather and shoe industry, located in the city of Novo Hamburgo / RS. Analysis of data was through qualitative and descriptive approaches. Focused on the processes of management, professional and organizational culture of family firms, we stress the need for improvements in management practices for the growth and perpetuation of the family business.