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By Joachim Schwass, Willem Smit, Lise Moeller

Family businesses are the bedrock of almost all of the world’s economies. That is a very well known fact. Less well known is that, according to numerous research studies, family firms perform better than non-family businesses. In some countries, the performance of family enterprises surpasses that of non-family companies by as much as 158% over ten years!

These outstanding achievements are often attributed to the unique competitive advantages that these firms have gained over time. Particularly, family involvement encourages long-term orientation and patience, attributes that help family firms stand above the rest.

There is, however, a deeper perspective to all of this. Successful … Read more

A few bad eggs can hurt all family firms

A nationwide recall of eggs connected to widespread salmonella poisoning caused millions of wary Americans to alter their breakfast menus this summer, as federal investigators scrambled to find the source of the outbreak.

An Iowa family enterprise has been linked to the egg recall. The Des Moines Register reported that the giant DeCoster family agribusiness enterprise, which owns Wright County Egg, recalled millions of eggs it had shipped to wholesalers, distribution centers and food service companies in eight states. A New York Times article, citing a Food and Drug Administration official, said salmonella was found in feed given to pullets raised by a DeCoster … Read more