Family trends shaping the family business landscape

Abstract

Family businesses derive their uniqueness from the involvement of a family system, which interacts with the business unit. Consequently, scholars have pointed towards the importance of family system characteristics for understanding family firm behavior and outcomes. Nevertheless, since the emergence of the field of family business, families have changed profoundly and will not stop changing in the future. Given the intertwinement between the family and business, it is important for scholars and practitioners to pay attention to changes in the family system. This chapter explicates trends in the family system and their implications for practice and research in terms of how family businesses are owned, managed, and transferred to the next generation.