The family and the business

The aim of this paper was to explore the attitudes of owner-managers to the conflicting pressures of family and business. Five hundred and thirty-four owner-managers responded to a questionnaire that asked about their attitudes to a range of issues including, for example, succession and equity, children's involvement in the business, and the extent to which family should expect income from the business. There was common agreement on some issues such as the fact that children should be allowed to choose whether to join the business, and that family and business affairs should be kept separate. Beyond this, there were disagreements with three clear groups, or clusters, of attitudes emerging. We called these the Family-Business Jugglers, Family Rules, and Family Out groups. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.