Regional economic performance and the differential prevalence of corporate and family business

Abstract

Purpose Previous studies have largely examined interregional variations of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) rather than family firm concentrations. This paper aims to address this gap through an analysis of firm type indicators across Europe from the Eurostat database, using social, economic and demographic statistics at the NUTS 2 regional level to ascertain the nature, prevalence and regional contexts of family firm concentrations. Design/methodology/approach Hierarchical clustering is performed to map the regional distribution of the European family business. Findings Results show that the co-existence of family SMEs with large firms is negatively related to regional economic performance, and this variation has implications for the understanding of the survival and strategic behaviour of family firms. Originality/value The study promotes a new family business “in context” than “by context” point of view and paves the way for further empirical work with interregional family business data at various spatial levels.