Understanding Social Innovation in Family Firms

The John Gokongwei School of Management invites you to a Brown Bag Session on “Understanding Social Innovation in Family Firms". Our presenter is Caroline Da Silva, PhD Candidate at the Maastricht University School of Business and Economics.

This will be held on Wednesday, 18 February 2026 from 12:00 - 1:30PM at the Cabochan Room, SOM 307 and online via Zoom.

Please register here: https://bit.ly/jgsombrownbag18feb2026

Brief Description of the Topic:

Family firms are often deeply embedded in their communities, yet little is known about how they engage in social innovation. Social innovation is defined as the creation of novel practices and arrangements that generate social value by addressing unmet social needs. This talk examines how and why family firms develop such initiatives in the communities they operate in.

In this talk, I present an exploratory qualitative study on family firms and social innovation in the Philippines that asks: How, and under which conditions, do family firms engage in social innovation? Drawing on in-depth qualitative data, I explore how family dynamics, values, and local context shape these efforts. The study broadens the conversation on social innovation and highlights the role of family influence in addressing social challenges. The research also aims to answer calls for entrepreneurial research in non-WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic) contexts.

About the Speaker:

Caroline is a PhD candidate researching on family firms and social innovation, with a focus on how family-owned businesses respond to social challenges in emerging economies. Her work uses qualitative methods and sits at the intersection of family business research and social entrepreneurship.

By studying firms in the Philippines, her research highlights the importance of context by bringing insights from underrepresented settings into research areas often dominated by Western settings.

Caroline is supervised by scholars specializing in family business, social entrepreneurship, and qualitative research.