Purpose This study explains how managers in family-owned real estate firms achieve flexibility in orchestrating their resources under conditions of uncertainty. Design/methodology/approach This paper draws on a single-case design, utilizing 21 interviews with top managers and archival material from 18 Swedish family-owned real estate firms to capture how the phenomenon of resource orchestration (RO) unfolds under uncertainty. Findings The results reveal how the family phenomenon can be understood as a key driver of the family firm’s RO mechanisms, shaping the RO activities of its managers. Originality/value Three distinct RO configurations of family firm managers are identified: (1) flexible network structuring, (2) incremental flexibility and stakeholder-focused bundling and (3) cautious and societal flexible leveraging. These configurations explain how the family dimension enables the manager’s RO flexibility under conditions of uncertainty.
Ljungkvist et al. (Tue,) studied this question.