Abstract
An inductive case study of four firms that varied in their response to the same environmental jolt is used to explore the processes by which entrepreneurs engage in behaviours that risk negative impacts on their businesses. The study finds that notions of brinkmanship found in game theory and international negotiations research can explain behaviours in which family firms deliberately risk negative firm outcomes. Further, family firms engage in brinkmanship behavior with increasing levels of intensity: tentative, assertive, and pre-emptive. Three factors were identified that influenced the levels of intensity they adopt: place attachment, ownership structure, and management style. The contribution of this study is to introduce the notion of organizational brinkmanship into family business and management research.