This study shows how family firm size affects the extent to which bus and coach operators in Australia interact with and contribute to their community by quantifying the value of eight social externalities and present...This study shows how family firm size affects the extent to which bus and coach operators in Australia interact with and contribute to their community by quantifying the value of eight social externalities and presenting the results, using the number of staff and the number of buses per operator as the denominators. The study highlights how a transaction between the government, as buyer, and the bus operator, as seller of services, can affect an external factor that being community and regional development. The results suggest that the small- and medium-sized family firm bus operators are the governance models most likely to contribute toward achieving community and regional development outcomes, which in turn, highlights the importance placed on the achievement of the non-financial goals of family firms and the socio-emotional wealth of the community in which it is embedded. This study suggests that it is possible that contracting bus-services for social value, rather than just lowest price, would create greater benefit for the community and this would offset any gains in economic efficiency achieved by large and non-family firms.展开更多
文摘This study shows how family firm size affects the extent to which bus and coach operators in Australia interact with and contribute to their community by quantifying the value of eight social externalities and presenting the results, using the number of staff and the number of buses per operator as the denominators. The study highlights how a transaction between the government, as buyer, and the bus operator, as seller of services, can affect an external factor that being community and regional development. The results suggest that the small- and medium-sized family firm bus operators are the governance models most likely to contribute toward achieving community and regional development outcomes, which in turn, highlights the importance placed on the achievement of the non-financial goals of family firms and the socio-emotional wealth of the community in which it is embedded. This study suggests that it is possible that contracting bus-services for social value, rather than just lowest price, would create greater benefit for the community and this would offset any gains in economic efficiency achieved by large and non-family firms.