The author defends the need for the family business to have its own legal framework. According to its approach, any legal measure that can be taken to promote the creation, consolidation and continuity of this type of enterprise is a success from the point of view of an economic policy oriented towards social welfare. • One of the most discussed issues concerning family businesses is the existence of legal systems aimed, inter alia, at facilitating their existence and transmission. On some occasions, critics have been raised because they did not consider the existence of such treatment to be justified. For this reason, it is interesting to forget for a moment the microeconomic approach to assessing the role and relevance of family businesses in the macroeconomic field. Europe currently has 17 million family businesses employing around 100 million people. It is clear that this reality shows the considerable dependence of European productive sectors on family businesses. The need for job stability and the creation of new jobs is directly linked to the existence of a business sector whose employment policy is guided by long-term strategic plans rather than profit. This is one of the great comparative advantages of family businesses, as they allow for the design of long-term strategic plans based on the reinvestment of profits and aimed at consolidating the company without having to resist shareholder pressure for dividend payments. This situation is particularly important today, because enterprises operating in the environment of the “new economy” are characterized precisely by their characteristics by their instability, which creates significant risk factors in the economic system. On the other hand, faced with a changing economic framework and an increasingly globalized market, the success of the business mission will depend more than ever on the ability to adapt to new market needs.
Only the most flexible companies, able to innovate and continuously adapt their structures, will be able to achieve this. In this regard, family businesses must make a special effort to adapt to the new era without losing their characteristics and, in particular, their fundamental stability. This argument is one of the main reasons to defend a legal treatment that facilitates the development of this type of business. However, in the development of this type of business, as statistics show, there is a particularly delicate moment – the process of succession or transfer of the same. It is known that only 33% of this type of society passes to the second generation, 13% reach the third generation and only 4% survive the following generations. According to the European Commission, there are around 5 million family businesses in Europe that will have to make decisions about their future over the next 10 years. Of these, about 30% will disappear if they do not pass the ownership transfer process. Although the factors influencing this result are multiple, priority can be given to the impact of the legal framework, in particular the tax framework, as a condition for generational renewal and continuity of the family business. For this reason, the development of legal frameworks that promote and facilitate the continuity of these enterprises is fully justified. The optimisation of transfer processes is of great importance, not only for the survival of one and a half million family businesses in Europe, but also for the 6 million jobs that depend on them. Therefore, Europe`s economic future vis-à-vis our main economic competitors necessarily depends on family businesses.
Without the birth, growth and transmission of this generation, it is not possible to guarantee long-term stability and growth in a given region. Any legal measure that can be taken to promote the creation, consolidation and continuity of these enterprises is undoubtedly a success from the point of view of an economic policy aimed at social welfare. Juan F. Corona. Professor of Family Business, University of Barcelona.