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Published as a refereed journal since 1988, Family Business Review (FBR) is the leading scholarly publication devoted exclusively to exploration of the dynamics of family-controlled enterprise, including firms ranging in size from the very large to the relatively small. FBR is focused not only the entrepreneurial founding generation, but also on family enterprises in the 2nd and 3rd generation and beyond, including some of the oldest companies in the world. In addition, the journal publishes interdisciplinary research on families of wealth, family foundations and offices. The journal covers areas such as but not limited to the following:
Succession planning
Impact of family dynamics on managerial behaviors
Estate and tax planning
Liquidity issues
Financial management
Generation and gender issues
Internationalization and Globalization of family enterprises
Organizational structures
Strategic planning and organizational changes in family firms

An introduction to the main family business concepts, defining where and how family firms are distinctive. How to plot your family firm’s stage of development, plus the varying and often overlapping roles, motivations and expectations of family members.

The IFB Research Foundation published open-access Family Business Challenges case studies dealing with key topics. The first, in particular, provides a good starting point:

We are an internationally-recognised, research-led, teaching and engagement Centre that collaborates to inspire and support the better management of family firms.

The Institute of Family Business and Mittelstand at WHU (ifbm@WHU) is a thought leader in the field of family business and small and medium-sized enterprises. With a dedicated team of scholars and practitioners, we aim to study different aspects of family firms, hidden champions as well as small and medium-sized enterprises. Our most current research projects, for instance, aim to advance our understanding of innovation, leadership and employee satisfaction, succession, inertia, business ethics and financing of family firms as well as family offices.

Established in 1999, the John L. Ward Center for Family Enterprises pioneered much of what is known about the collective challenges that family businesses and their leaders and owners face, making the Ward Center synonymous with new ways of thinking about the ownership and leadership of family enterprises. Clinical Professor Emeritus John Ward, along with co-founder Lloyd Shefsky and numerous faculty and staff aligned with the Ward Center, developed a world-class teaching and research center that provides cutting-edge thinking and guidance for family business purpose, vision and strategy, governance, leadership, succession, entrepreneurship in family business, family engagement and cohesion and family business culture.

Wharton Global Family Alliance (Wharton GFA) – The Wharton Global Family Alliance is a Wharton initiative that centers on a broad set of issues faced by global families that control substantial enterprises and resources. The Wharton GFA is globally recognized as the leading institution for the creation and dissemination of knowledge and practices of multi-generational families and their businesses; The Wharton GFA seeks to foster the longevity, harmony, and prosperity of multi-generational, multi-branch families and their businesses. The Wharton GFA transcends boundaries to enable collaboration and effective communication between researchers and families for mutual benefit and for the benefit of society at large; it enables thought leadership, knowledge transfer, and sharing of ideas and best practices among influential families; it publishes in a range of leading academic and practitioners’ outlets cutting edge theoretical, empirical, and field research on key issues affecting families and their businesses; and it initiates, manages, and participates in global forums and conferences.

With more than 20 years of expertise in the unique dynamics of family enterprises, the Wendel International Centre for Family Enterprise (WICFE) is a leading international resource for family business. In 1997, the Wendel family founded the Large Family Firm Chair and INSEAD offered our first Family Business MBA elective. Since then we have been continuously generating research and sharing knowledge that benefits family businesses.

For more than thirty years, the Family Firm Institute (FFI) has been engaged in educating, connecting, and inspiring professionals who serve family enterprises. FFI is the leading association worldwide for family enterprise professionals and the organization of choice for the advisors, consultants, educators, and researchers who help perpetuate trans-generational family enterprise. In adopting a multidisciplinary and global perspective, FFI understands family enterprise as a fundamental driver of global economic growth, prosperity, and stability.

We were founded in 2001 by a group of families coming together to help families, their businesses and communities to thrive and prosper for generations to come. Today, we are the largest UK family business organisation and the UK Chapter or Family Business International (FBN).

The Family Business Network (FBN) is the world’s leading organization of business families. Founded in 1989 and headquartered in Lausanne, FBN is a federation of Member Associations spanning 65 countries. A vibrant community, FBN brings together 4,000 business families – encompassing 17,000 individual members of which 6,400 are Next Generation (between 18 ans 40 years old).