Family Firms

Family firms are ubiquitous. According to data published by the Institute for Family Business in 2011, 66 per cent of all private sector firms in the United Kingdom in 2010 were family businesses. The concentration of family businesses is high across sectors, ranging from 36.5 per cent in health and social work to 89.1 per cent in agriculture and other primary sector activities (Figure 1.1). Four sectors account for over two-thirds of the family firms in the country: real estate, renting and business activity (22.7), construction (22.4), wholesale and retail trade, repairs (13.0) and transport, storage and communication (10.4). These firms are believed to account for a significant proportion of firms both in Europe, in general, and “[b]eyond Europe and the United States — and with the conspicuous exception of Japan — the family firm has been and continues to be the norm” (Jones and Rose, 2006, p. 1).