Differences between family and non-family firms. The impact of different research samples with increasing elimination of demographic sample differences

This article presents a bivariate comparison of Flemish family and non-family firms, investigating differences with respect to CEO characteristics, strategy, management information systems, environment, financing issues, performance and growth. Several authors have indicated that observed differences between family and non-family firms in empirical research often are not caused by the family character, but by ‘demographic sample’ differences relating to firm size and age, sector and geographical location of the business. By trying to control for size and sector differences using the matched pairs methodology we will analyze the impact of detecting ‘real’ rather than ‘demographic sample’ differences between family and non-family firms.