Our research group

Family firms are commonly cited internationally as making up nearly 80% of all registered companies – a figure consistent in most European countries and in North America. Closer to home, a 1997 survey in Australia indicated that 75% of businesses were family owned and these businesses employed approximately 50% of Australia’s workforce. What limited research has been done here indicates that the New Zealand figures are comparable to theirs.

Because of their importance within the New Zealand economy, helping and encouraging family owned businesses to maximise their growth potential is a key to achieving the national goal of restoring New Zealand to the top half of the OECD table ranking countries in terms of their growth of GDP per capita. New Zealand is well behind other leading countries in the field of understanding the factors which promote or inhibit the growth of family businesses and in having research-based evidence to ensure it is developing appropriate policies and training and education programmes for them.