Corporate Ownership & Control / Volume 18, Issue 3, Spring 2021 149 STRATEGIC DECISION-MAKING PROCESSES IN FAMILY BUSINESSES: THE FOUNDING SHAREHOLDER’S POWER PLAY Jules Roger Feudjo * , Gisèle Kakti ** , Félix Zogning *** * University of Dschang, Republic of Cameroon ** University of Ngaoundéré, Republic of Cameroon *** Corresponding author, University of Québec in Outaouais, Canada Contact details: University of Québec in Outaouais, 283 Alexandre-Taché Blvd, C.P. 1250, Gatineau, Québec J8X 3X7, Canada Abstract How to cite this paper: Feudjo, J. R., Kakti, G., & Zogning, F. (2021). Strategic decision-making processes in family businesses: The founding shareholder’s power play. Corporate Ownership & Control, 18(3), 149-160. https://doi.org/10.22495/cocv18i3art12 Copyright © 2021 The Authors This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by /4.0/ ISSN Online: 1810-3057 ISSN Print: 1727-9232 Received: 20.01.2021 Accepted: 26.03.2021 JEL Classification: D23, D70, G30, L22, M12 DOI: 10.22495/cocv18i3art12 This article proposes to understand strategic decision-making within family businesses (FBs), with particular emphasis on the role of the different stakeholders in this decision-making. For this, we carried out a qualitative casuistic study. The convenience sampling method enabled us to constitute a sample of eight cases of FBs, with which we conducted semi-structured interviews. Thematic data analysis was made with the content of these interviews. The results obtained show that the decision-making process is not identical within the FBs. However, it remains a power play controlled directly and at different levels by the founding shareholder and indirectly by the members of his nuclear family. This process differs from the model of Fama (1980) and Fama and Jensen (1983) either by the size of the process and the intertwining of roles (Model 1) or by the level of involvement of the nuclear family in the process (Model 2). This article highlights the permanent involvement, formal and/or informal, of the family in the decision-making process and the need to encourage the establishment of a code of governance specific to these FBs. Keywords: Decision-Making Process, Family Business, Family Governance, Cameroon Authors’ individual contribution: Conceptualization – J.R.F. and G.K.; Methodology – J.R.F., G.K., and F.Z.; Validation – J.R.F. and F.Z.; Investigation – J.R.F. and G.K.; Formal Analysis – G.K.; Writing – Original Draft – J.R.F., G.K., and F.Z.; Writing – Review & Editing – J.R.F. and F.Z.; Visualization – F.Z.; Funding Acquisition – F.Z. Declaration of conflicting interests: The Authors declare that there is no conflict of interest. 1. INTRODUCTION For several decades, scientific research has intensified on family businesses (FBs). These entities represent in almost all countries more than 80% of the economy. Several results of this research have been produced but none highlight the decision- making process in these companies. Two decades already since the very first research on FB was conducted in Cameroon. It is indeed the work of Tchankam (2000), whose aim was to show what FB represents in Cameroon. According to this author, FB in Cameroon is a company in which members of the same family control the activity or work and participate actively in the management, maintaining a lasting bond between the family and the company, so to speak. A few years later, Feudjo’s (2006) article that studied the relationship between ownership structure and governance within the FBs followed. He concludes that the concentration of family