UK family businesses: industrial and geographical context, governance and performance

This report investigates family businesses in the UK and focuses on their incidence, industrial and geographical context and their governance and performance relative to non-family businesses. The sample includes near population UK data for the period 2007 to 2009 of privately held incorporated firms (excluding listed/quoted firms) and analyses around 3 million firm-year observations. The report compares and contrasts family businesses with non-family businesses with reference to governance and performance during the current recession. Family businesses that are structured with 'family trusts/settlements' are considered as an important sub-sample of family businesses in the report. The analysis highlights important differences between family and non-family firms across a number of dimensions of governance and firm performance.