20 Years of WIFU

In the anniversary study „20 Years of WIFU – 20 Years of Research into Family Businesses in Germany. Study: What Really Drives Family Entrepreneurs?“ (2018), Tom A. Rüsen, Marcel Hülsbeck, Maike Gerken and Nicole Vöpel analyse key issues currently facing entrepreneurial families in Germany. To mark the 20th anniversary of the Witten Institute for Family Businesses, the publication combines an institutional retrospective with an empirically grounded assessment of the issues, expectations and research needs of family business owners.

At the heart of the study is a survey of 202 family business owners from various sectors, company sizes and generations. The analysis follows the established three-circle model of business, family and ownership, and clearly shows that strategic, non-operational issues take centre stage. At the business level, topics such as recruitment and retention, succession planning, digitalisation, and financing and strategy dominate. At the same time, it becomes apparent that the need for academic guidance is increasing, particularly where complexity, uncertainty and long-term implications converge.

At the level of the entrepreneurial family, the focus is primarily on succession dynamics, family governance and the interface between family and business. This is complemented by legal issues relating to ownership, inheritance tax and governance structures. The study also highlights the high level of willingness among entrepreneurial families to participate actively in research and underlines the WIFU’s commitment to consistently aligning research with the real-world challenges of practice. The publication thus provides both an assessment of the current state of family business research and a well-founded agenda for future research and knowledge transfer initiatives.