Campden research studied the wholly-owned US family businesses and found that the top 13 among them were dominant in a select few sectors. If they were a nation, their GDP (i.e. total revenues of $232 bn) would be 45th largest on the globe. The sectors where these family businesses were found dominant included ‘agriculture, food and beverages’ (62% share of the sector), followed by ‘retail, consumer goods & lifestyle’ sector (46% share held by family firms). ‘Energy, oil & gas’ and ‘Supply chain and transport’ sectors came next where these wholly-owned family businesses had 23% share of business.
Majority of these businesses were led by the third generation members. The average number of family members involved in these businesses came to 3.3. Nearly half (46%) of those family members were found to have worked in organisations outside the family business. These businesses employed a little over a half-million employees. A large number of these businesses (85%) had international operations. 77% of these businesses were found to have a philanthropic strategy.
Source: CampdenFB