Publications
Publications
- July 19, 2021
- Harvard Business Review (website)
Do Most Family Businesses Really Fail by the Third Generation?
By: Josh Baron and Rob Lachenauer
Abstract
Perhaps the most commonly-cited statistic about family businesses is their failure rates. Most articles or speeches about family businesses start with some version of the “three-generation rule,” which suggests that most don’t survive beyond three generations. But that perception could not be further from the truth. The data suggests that, on average, family businesses last far longer than a typical public company does. Far from being doomed to failure, family businesses across the world will continue to be a leading source of jobs and economic growth for years to come.
Keywords
Citation
Baron, Josh, and Rob Lachenauer. "Do Most Family Businesses Really Fail by the Third Generation?" Harvard Business Review (website) (July 19, 2021).