Abstract
Private equity is mostly invested in established firms, of which family firms are the dominant form. This article reports the recent evolution of the scientific research on the PE focused on family firms and small and medium-sized enterprises. The purpose is to identify the main themes related to the field between 1992 and 2018 and to identify and analyze the major thematic areas throughout the period. The methodology applied is the science mapping analysis, which shows that: (i) published research on the field is concentrated in two main thematic areas: corporate governance-entrepreneurship and innovation-management, and; (ii) there has been an atomization of the research field during the last six years. Throughout this article, the authors develop a more complete understanding of the PE scientific field focused on family owned SMEs and provide suggestions for those looking for alternatives to traditional bank financing.
Highlights
The middle-market sector plays an important role in our financial system provided that, and according the European Commission, “SMEs are the backbone of Europe's economy: they represent 99% of all businesses in the region”
Private equity (PE) is an effective alternative to traditional financing for private SME as it provides with solid and sustainable business models to better deal with economic cycles
This study aims at making the family owned SMEs aware of the existence and advantages of the use of PE as an alternative to traditional financing and to promote it in the years
Summary
The middle-market sector plays an important role in our financial system provided that, and according the European Commission, “SMEs are the backbone of Europe's economy: they represent 99% of all businesses in the region”. Many FFs are facing succession around the world (Shanker and Astrachan, 1996; Upton and Petty, 2000) and the challenge of ensuring succession of the business is a pressing global phenomenon (PWC, 2012); but PE has largely been ignored as a possible solution (Higashide & Birley, 2002; Howorth, Westhead and Wright, 2004). With more than 14 million family businesses in Europe, their importance to the economy cannot be overestimated. According to the PwC Global Family Business Survey 2018, succession and access to financing are between the key challenges for FF over the two years. Despite the abovementioned, according to the European Central Bank (November of 2017) “banking products are the main source of financing for European SMEs, while other sources
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
