How do family businesses grow? Differences in growth patterns between family and non-family firms

Abstract

Family businesses vary considerably in size, ranging from small entrepreneurial ventures over medium-sized companies to large global corporations. However, we know little about how family businesses grow. Our research analyses differences in growth patterns between family and non-family businesses, considering two dimensions of business growth: sales (performance) and employees (resources). Based on the Penrosean resource-based view of the firm and socioemotional wealth (SEW) perspective, we test and find —using a panel of 2000 Spanish manufacturing companies (2006–2014) —that family businesses tend to grow less than non-family businesses in terms of sales but more in terms of employees. Our research casts doubt on the myth of low growth in family businesses and shows that SEW should complement the Penrosean approach to explain the growth of family businesses.