Beyond conservatism: artisan stewardship in small artisan family businesses

Purpose Preservation of family business traditions has emerged as an important research trend over the past 2 decades. Balancing business interests and traditions or disproportionately choosing either of them is not always easy for family business leaders. The purpose of this study is to explore how artisan business leaders, as extreme cases, navigating rising competition while preserving artisan traditions. Design/methodology/approach This study employed a qualitative approach to explore a social phenomenon of preserving artisan traditions in family business. Specifically, it conducted a qualitative analysis of cases from a traditional artisan pottery community in Northern Vietnam. Findings The findings revealed that (1) a conservative view is necessary for the preservation of traditional craftsmanship. However, this approach still allows for incremental additions that complement rather than replace existing artisanal traditions; (2) a low-growth equilibrium business model becomes an unavoidable outcome; (3) an emerging network of multiple stakeholders associated with the personal brand has been nurtured. The proposed framework provides a holistic approach to better understand the preservation of artisan legacies in family business as a process. Originality/value On the one hand, this study finds that traditional artisanship perpetuators in family business are not passively conservative. In contrast, they are highly aware of their mission to preserve artisan legacies. On the other hand, the proposed framework presents a process-based approach to understanding how artisan legacies are maintained in family businesses in the artisanship industry.