Next-generation family businesses

FAMILY businesses make up a major part of the global economy, creating an estimated 70 to 90 percent of the global GDP annually. They are important clients for Deloitte, and we are proud to maintain an ongoing commitment to the family business segment, with a special focus on the next generation of family business leaders.

We engage in continuous dialogue with family business leaders, both current and next generation, and we find that these leaders have considerable interest in “hot topics” such as digitization and disruption (the subject of last year’s Next-generation family businesses report). This year, we report on another topic of great interest: The ways that family enterprises are adapting to the continual changes that occur within and among today’s business ecosystems.

By “business ecosystems,” we mean interdependent networks of businesses and other organizations that interact to create value. Most family businesses have historically operated within closely knit, stable networks of trusted collaborators. But across geographies and sectors, business ecosystems as a whole are evolving to become broader, more fluid and more complex than family businesses may be accustomed to. Roles, relationships, and modes of interaction are changing in ways that threaten to make the traditional competitive advantages of family businesses, if not obsolete, then at least a less solid basis for success.