2 - Geographical, sectoral, and dimensional distribution of family firms

Summary

The world-wide diffusion of the family firm confirms the impression that its relevance is dependent upon a complex array of institutional forces, and it is not merely a device to handle uncertainty during the initial phases of industrialisation. However, it is clear that the degree of diffusion of the family firm depends largely on the stage of economic growth, on the sectors involved, and on the structure of the enterprise itself inside those sectors. As shown in the previous section, today family firms remain important in most advanced modern economies. They can be found not only in traditional, small-scale, and labour-intensive industries but also at the top of the national rankings of industrial enterprises by sales and size, even if in some countries this presence is more significant than in others. Nevertheless, there are international differences in family firms' pervasiveness and structure, even if their contribution to GNP converges. Recent research has shown that 42 of the top 100 corporations in Italy were family-owned, while 17 of the top 100 companies in the USA and in Germany were family firms. The sales average of these companies per year was 2.7 billion Euros in Italy, 12.5 in Germany, and about 40 in the USA. The average number of their employees was nearly 134,000 in the USA, 58,000 in Germany, and about 14,000 in Italy. Notwithstanding these differences, in all these countries the contribution of the top family firms to GNP is very similar – about 10% (Montemerlo 2001: 20).