Family enterprises make up the majority of Slovenian companies (up to 83%) and are an important driving force in the Slovenian economy.
Main highlights
In 83 % of the companies the family controls strategic decisions and 71 % of companies have two or more family members with managerial responsibility. Two or more generations of the family are involved in 62% of the companies.
Distribution of family businesses by industry
Family businesses are mainly micro and small enterprises with less than 50 employees (95%), total yearly revenues of €4 million or less (87%), are more than 20 years old (74%) and operate in various industries. The most important of these are retail and wholesale trade (19%), construction (19%) and the manufacturing of industrial goods (17%), with other industries also well-represented.
Characteristics of family business managers
Most family business managers are male, experienced, the majority owners of the company, and had an active role in its founding. A large proportion of family business managers have parents with entrepreneurial experience, were brought up in a family business environment and have entrepreneurs as role models, but did not grow up in a positive economic environment for entrepreneurship.
Transfering the company to the next generation
The key elements of successful transfer of a family business to the next generation are an assessment of abilities, an early start, ensuring continuity, and fair and equal treatment of individuals. Managers tend to exclusively be family members; there is a relatively low percentage of leading employees who are not. The loyalty of this latter group is assured mainly by increased involvement and participation in decisionmaking, treatment as a family member and non-financial benefits.
Financial highlights
Family businesses represent a significant contribution to sales, added value and employment to the Slovenian economy. The average family business had €2.54 million revenues, €0.77 million added value and 20 employees.
Summary
In 2015, EY Slovenia collaborated with the Faculty of Economics at the University of Ljubljana to find out more about the role of family businesses in Slovenian economy and to sketch out their defining characteristics.
