ABSTRACT
In the beginning was entrepreneurship. However, while all novice private firms materialise entrepreneurial processes, most, if they overcome the liabilities of newness, stagnate and remain small firms in which family concerns dominate. Only a minority of family businesses nurture growth ambitions and expand to become, first, medium-sized companies and then, possibly, evolve into global corporations. Most authors adopt Penrose’s (1959/1995) view that while entrepreneurship is needed to trigger the original growth process, its continuation calls for more professional management and less family involvement.
