Is there any room for family business into European Union 2020 Strategy? Family business and regional public policy

Abstract

The role of family firms within economic growth and development has been neglected, and family business dimensions have been overlooked in regional intervention policy. That is, while family firms seem to play a significant role in the construction of the European Union, family firms are omitted from public policy beyond direct action related to tax benefits or advice about ownership and management succession. Therefore, the aim of this article is to provoke a debate on the importance of the family business dimension for developing and implementing regional public policy. Specifically, this article addresses the question of whether the family firm matters for regional development and, if so, how the family business dimensions can be included in regional policy strategies. We built our arguments following the regional familiness model and considering that family businesses’ effect on regional development can occur at the firm and regional levels. Our main conclusion is that any public policy intervention should consider the regional familiness characteristics of the regional productive structure because it may boost or hinder regional competitiveness and affect economic growth and development.