Goal Structures in Family Firms: Empirical Evidence on the Relationship between Firm and Family Goals

Abstract

Abstract We investigate goal structures in family firms and provide several findings based on a survey among the shareholders of German companies. Our analysis reveals that the importance that is attributed to family or firm goals depends on certain firm characteristics. First of all, strong family influence by itself favors the orientation towards family goals. In line with other empirical studies we find that the existence of an advisory board leads to reduced importance of family goals. However, we find that a larger firm size results in higher significance of family goals.