Family, Inc. Historical Development of German and US Family Firm
Description
Family-owned businesses are the most common form of business organization worldwide. This project deals with the main characteristics of closely-held ownership and more precisely families as majority owners. It strives for an international comparison of family firms in Germany and the United States since 1945. Based on business statistics and case study research, it compares the corporate governance of German and US family firms and their changes from the end of World War II to the present. Rather than statically opposing family and non-family firms, the focus lies on the family influence itself, which proves to be malleable and historically contingent. The analysis of family businesses is, therefore, intertwined with an evaluation of the economic, legal, and cultural frameworks in both countries and their impact on family firms’ development. The results contribute to family business research as well as to a less static understanding of the so-called “liberal” and “coordinated market economies” (Hall und Soskice 2001) or the “Rhenish Capitalism” (Albert 1992).