ABSTRACT
Family firms represent an important percentage of firms in countries like Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico and have significant impact in their economies. In this chapter, the authors discuss the unique characteristics of the ownership and governance structures that are used by family firms in Latin American. One of the unique characteristics of the structure of family businesses in this part of the world is that, as the family businesses grow, they are likely to be organized using a multi-business portfolio structure called "grupo". "Grupos" are holding companies that are structured to include several businesses that are owned by a business family or group of families. Within family firms, the study of corporate governance includes the understanding of structures and processes used to ensure that the actions of organizational stakeholders are consistent with the goals of the dominant coalition. In the ownership system, the role of governance is to help maintain equity for the owners.
