Paper Title
THE GROWING PAINS OF A FAMILY BUSINESS ACROSS THE FAMILY BUSINESS LIFECYCLE

Abstract
Abstract - The paper is an exploratory inquiry that investigates family firm growing pains from the three-dimensional perspective of business, ownership, and family lifecycles. The organizational lifecycle concept focuses on the evolution of a business from a growth perspective. It defines the evolution of an organization through a sequence of stages from a start-up phase to a mature and larger organization. Using a case study methodology, the paper draws on the organizational lifecycle theory and the theoretical and empirical perspectives on family business growth. The main goal of the paper is to identify the key managerial, ownership, and family-related issues including the main risk factors a family business is facing during each stage of its evolution. The identification of these key challenges is beneficial for family businesses as it allows a company to prepare itself to deal with the challenges ahead. This is needed as every stage of the organizational lifecycle brings along a new entity that deals with different business, ownership, and family issues. Keywords - Family Firms, Organizational Lifecycle, Family Firm Lifecycles, Risk Factors.