Futurity, continuity and perseverance: the key assets in surviving adversity 

Family firms may receive less attention, particularly in the financial media, than their non-family counterparts. But that doesn’t mean that they are any less important or impactful.  

On the contrary, the heft of family firms in the global economy can be seen in the fact that they account for two thirds of all businesses worldwide and employ around 60% of the global workforce. Moreover, family firms have a well-deserved reputation for having generally survived tough economic times and for doing well over very long periods. 

Much of this can be attributed to the long-term orientation of family firms, rooted in their commitment to maintaining the business across generations. This is what has led many studies to show that family firms are more resilient than their non-family counterparts in normal economic times. 

But the question of whether a family firm’s superior ability to deal with adversity holds when facing something as challenging as a global health crisis has…