Sustainability, Vol. 11, Pages 1715: The Romanian Family Businesses Philosophy for Performance and Sustainability (Sustainability)

Family businesses represent a large segment of private companies and contribute greatly to economic growth. In this context, the objectives of this paper are to identify the characteristics of Romanian family businesses, starting from their involvement and governance mechanisms, and also to investigate if these specific items allow them to act towards creating sustainable businesses. In order to achieve these objectives, we have used qualitative and quantitative research, consisting of two phases: (a) we have analyzed the reports regarding the Romanian family businesses, in order to identify their characteristics; and (b) we have empirically tested if the characteristics are correlated with company financial performance and social responsibility. The results show that Romanian family businesses are aware of the changes that may appear and that they have started to implement internal processes oriented towards sustainability. Also, the main family involvements in business were ownership, governance, management and succession, which have a correlation with the performance of their company.