Governance in the Family Businesses

This chapter provides an overview of the family governance, variant governance configurations among family firms, and family governance tools and mechanisms that facilitate the family influence and control in the business. Family firms display unique governance characteristics due to family’s involvement in the business through ownership, management and/or board, and intra-family succession intentions coupled with the family business leaders’ substantial discretion in decision-making. In terms of governance, family firms are different from not only non-family firms but also other family firms depending on the level and nature of family involvement as well as the governance tools and mechanisms utilized.