Company performance and objectives reported by first and multi‐generation family companies: a research note

Speculative hypotheses relating to firm performance and company objective differences between first and multi‐generation family firms were tested. Bivariate differences were found to be spurious. Results from multivariate multiple regression and logistic regression analyses suggest that the performance of first and multi‐generation firms do not significantly differ in terms of employment growth, the propensity of a firm to be an exporter, and the intensity of internationalization activity. In addition, it was confirmed that the profitability of a family firm was not significantly influenced by its generation stage. It was, however, confirmed that multi‐generation firms were significantly more likely to report a prime company objective is “to enhance the reputation and status of the business in the local community”. In contrast, first generation firms were significantly more likely to report “family objectives have priority over business objectives”. Implications for practitioners and researchers are discussed.