NFDA Members,

My name is Jim Ruetz. Through our family businesses -All Fasteners & All Tool Sales (now All Integrated Solutions (AIS)- div of MSC Industrial, I’ve been an active member of the NFDA since 1995.

In 2019, I retired as CEO of AIS to pursue a Ph.D. in Business with an emphasis on family business executive research and entrepreneurship at Oklahoma State University. I’m in my final year conducting my dissertation research. When entering the Ph.D. program, one of my goals was to conduct research which would benefit family business practitioners and contribute to academic knowledge. To accomplish this goal, I need your help.

Traditionally, getting survey responses from the family business sector has been difficult. As a result, family business research data has historically come from either giant multibillion-dollar public family firms (10K reports) or small start-up firms, where data was more accessible. I am collecting research on midsize to large privately held family firms; my goal is to get responses from at least 500 family members and a minimum of 300 different family firms in the next 30 days. All family members and shareholders of a family-owned firm can participate in the survey.

This study centers around two constructs: 1. Leadership passion and 2. Firm-level familiness, and their relationship to family business succession or exit strategies. The survey will take approximately 10 minutes to complete and is anonymous. This research primarily focuses on family members working in the business (owners & potential owners). However, non-family members of the leadership team can also complete the survey.

A second independent survey will be conducted simultaneously, asking private equity buyers to evaluate the importance of the same two constructs in their acquisition decisions.

Participants will be given an option at the end of the survey to request a copy of the summarized results of both studies via email later this year. I have also agreed to present the summary results of this research at a future NFDA meeting.

The attached link will take you to the survey- please feel free to forward the link to others involved in family businesses. The survey is not industry dependent – the only stipulation is that a family or families own a majority position of the voting shares. If you have any questions about the survey or would like to contact me, I can be reached at [email protected].

Thank you in advance for your help,

Jim Ruetz
Ph.D. candidate Oklahoma State University

Click here to take the Family Business survey: