Centers

The EuFBC Seminar series is a joint initiative of 21 European Research Centers in the field of Family Business. The Centers are presented below (in alphabetical order). 

Openness is one of our founding principles. We are happy to consider the involvement other European Family Rusiness research centers that may wish to join the EuFBC as a part of this initiative. In order to be eligible to join the EuFBC Network, the Center should be part of a University, have a proven family business research focus, and be visible in the family business community. Please contact us to express your interest in joining the initiative.

AIDAF-EY Chair in Strategic Management in Family Business in memory of Alberto Falck | Bocconi University – Italy
The AIDAF-EY Chair in Strategic Management of Family Business in memory of Alberto Falck was established in 2004 by Bocconi University with the aim to spread the consciousness about the importance of Family Business in the most developed economies and in the academic system as a leading research field. The idea to promote a chair focused on Family Business at Bocconi University emerged from the study of the characteristics of the Italian entrepreneurial system, mainly composed of family-owned, small-medium companies.

Location: Milan, Italy
Chair: Guido Corbetta
Website: link
Center for Young and Family Enterprise | CYFE
University of Bergamo – Italy
The Center for Young and Family Enterprise (CYFE) at the University of Bergamo is a multidisciplinary research center focused on entrepreneurship and family business. The center explores and fosters entrepreneurial culture at individual, organizational, and societal level.

Location: Bergamo, Italy
Director: Tommaso Minola
Website: link
Centre for Family Business
Lancaster University Management School – UK
The Centre for Family Business at Lancaster University Management School is an active community of international scholars and family businesses developing global resources to bring new and meaningful insights to advance the business practice of small and medium-sized family firms.

Location: Lancaster, UK
Director: Allan Discua Cruz
Website: link
Centre for Family Entrepreneurship and Ownership | CeFEO
Jönköping International Business School | JIBS – Sweden
Founded in 2005, the Centre for Family Entrepreneurship and Ownership (CeFEO) at Jönköping International Business School is a world leading research centre in the field of family business and ownership. More than 50 researchers exploring family business topics, produce academic research, commissioned research, practitioner-oriented books, as well as seminars and training courses for practitioners across Sweden. Every year, CeFEO organizes in collaboration with a partner university the EIASM Workshop on Family Firm Management Research. 
 

Location: Jönköping, Sweden
Director: Massimo Baù
Website: link
Centre for Family Business Management
Free University of Bozen-Bolzano – Italy

The Centre for Family Business Management is based in the Faculty of Economics and Management of the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano and is a reference point, both locally and internationally, for research, education and knowledge transfer activities in the field of family business.

Location: Bolzano, Italy
Director: Alfredo De Massis
Website: link
Family Entrepreneurship and Society Chair
Audencia Business School – France

Launched in June 2013, the Family Entrepreneurship and Society Chair is a unique research and knowledge-sharing centre in France. Our goal is to contribute to academic research on entrepreneurial families and family businesses based on intimate knowledge of the field and constant dialogue with all stakeholders – shareholders, researchers, public authorities.

Location: Nantes, France
Director: Miruna Radu-Lefebvre
Website: link
Dutch Centre of Expertise in Family Business 
Windesheim University of Applied Sciences – The Netherlands

The Dutch Centre of Expertise in Family Business is an initiative and part of Windesheim University of Applied Sciences. Our mission is to conduct high-quality practice-oriented research and disseminate knowledge on strategic issues that keep family firms busy. 
We directly engage with practitioners and maintain long-term relationships with family firms in various sectors to make sure that we work on relevant topics.

Location: Windesheim, The Netherlands
Director: Judith van Helvert-Beugels
Website: link
EDHEC Family Business Research Centre
EDHEC Business School – France

The mission of the EDHEC Family Business Research Centre is to inspire and support family businesses and their stakeholders in sustaining the long-term entrepreneurial model across generations through research, education and events. Building on the expertise of a multidisciplinary team, it offers a holistic approach of the family business embracing the financial and socio-emotional dimensions in regards with succession, financial decisions, social impact and family entrepreneurship.

Location: France
Director: Rania Labaki
Website: link
Entrepreneurship and Family Business Center
IPAG Family Business – France

Reference for research, teaching and practice-transfer in the field of entrepreneurship and family business, the IPAG Entrepreneurship & Family Business Center involves academics from around the world, start-ups, family business owners and managers, as well as students. To achieve academic excellence, we promote the development of multidisciplinary and multicultural research by providing a framework for collaboration and networking among various actors at an international level and promoting several European projects. Every year, we organizes thematic round tables and workshops for entrepreneurs, family business owners and members as well as the International Family Business Research Forum (IFBRF) and the International Research Meeting in Business and Management (IRMBAM). 

Location: Nice, France
Director: Andrea Calabrò
Website: link
Entrepreneurship & Family Firm Institute | EFFI
EBS Universität für Wirtschaft und Recht – Germany
The Entrepreneurship & Family Firm Institute (EFFI) is a research-driven institute at the interface between science, business practice, and education. EFFI creates new and meaningful knowledge on transformation, responsible ownership, and new work, and fosters competencies that enable entrepreneurs, family owners and students to successfully master the challenges of tomorrow’s working world. 

Location: Oestrich-Winkel, Germany
Director: Matthias Waldkirch
Website: link
FABULA | FAmily BUsiness LAb
Università Cattaneo | LIUC – Italy

FABULA (FAmily BUsiness LAb) is a research center of Università Cattaneo – LIUC, a private business school located in Castellanza, near Milan. Founded in 2020, FABULA is dedicated to research, education and knowledge dissemination in the field of family business, with a focus on the youngest family members. It inspires and supports Italian family businesses with the rigor and the expertise of a multidisciplinary academic team.

Location: Castellanza, Italy
Co-Directors: Salvatore Sciascia and Valentina Lazzarotti  
Website: link
FIF@ZU | Friedrichshafen Institute for Family Entrepreneurship
@Zeppelin University, Lake Constance – Germany

FIF@Zeppelin University was founded in 2009. Since then our primarily empirical research (by the way: we love experimental designs) centers around a range of questions in the family firm context, for example the perception and reputational effects of the family nature of the firm by different stakeholder groups, innovation and entrepreneurship in family firms, or the perspective of the next generation on different aspects of career development.

Location: Friedrichshafen, Germany
Director: Reinhard Prügl
Website: link
Global Business Family Initiative
Esade Ramon Llull University – Spain
The Global Business Family Initiative consists of different activities and programmes to address three main issues that business families have to deal with: Performance, Purpose and Happiness. These key pillars can be harmoniously developed when there is Nobility of Spirit. Therefore, the GBFI is at is essence conceived as a collaboration with those business families who share this perspective.

Location: Barcelona, Spain
Director: Maria José Parada
Website: link
IE Center for Families in Business
IE – Spain
The aim of the IE Center for Families in is to contribute to the development and impact of families in business. We help families in business and their interest groups understand the environment through reputable training resources, think with the support of research based on excellence and act to create positive connections and make decisions. Our priority is to develop and disseminate the distinguishing characteristics of the families in business, placing value on their contribution to society.

Location: Madrid, Spain
Director: Cristina Cruz
Website: link
Innovation & Strategy, Family Business Research Group
Politecnico di Milano – Italy
Innovation & Strategy is a multidisciplinary team of researchers that work at the intersection of family entrepreneurship, governance and innovation that is part of the School of Management of Politecnico di Milano. Founded in 2021, the mission of the research group is to develop knowledge that supports the well-being of business families across generations, as well as the long-term survival and the purpose-led, entrepreneurial vitality of family firms.

Location: Milan, Italy
Director: Josip Kotlar
Website: link
IMU-U and IOP-P
University of Bern - Switzerland

Several scholars conduct Family Business research at the University of Bern at the Department of Management and Entrepreneurship (IMU-U) and the Institute for Organization and Personnel (IOP-P). Research is done from multiple theoretical and empirical perspectives, with a strong link between academic research and practice.

Location: Bern, Switzerland
Contact persons: Andreas Hack 
& Philipp Sieger 
Website: IMU-U & IOP-P
Institute of Family Business and Mittelstand
WHU | Otto Beisheim School of Management – Germany

The Institute of Family Business and Mittelstand at WHU (ifbm@WHU) is located at WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management in Vallendar, Germany, one of Europe’s leading business schools. With a team of dedicated academics and practitioners, we aim to advance our understanding of innovation, leadership and employee satisfaction, succession, inertia, business ethics and financing of family firms as well as family offices. But creating new insights is not enough. We also strive to discuss, transfer, and extend those insights in discussions with practitioners.

Location: Vallendar, Germany
Director: Nadine Kammerlander
Website: link
Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IFM) | Universität Mannheim – Germany
Interdisciplinary Research Group “Family Firms”

The interdisciplinary research group “Family Firms” of the University of Mannheim is dedicated to independent family firm research since over 30 years. We are internationally visible experts from the areas Organization, Sociology, Psychology, Information Systems and Entrepreneurship. We bring in our expertise in international academic research, in research projects on EU-, country, or state level, as well as in academic teaching and knowledge transfer events for family entrepreneurs and practitioners.

Location: Mannheim, Germany
Director: Michael Woywode
Group Leader: Jan-Philipp Ahrens 
Website: link
Raya Strauss Center for Family Firm Research 
Coller School of Management, Tel Aviv University – Israel

The Raya Strauss Center for Family Firm Research at the Coller School of Management at Tel Aviv University, founded in 2014, is the first and only center for family firm research in Israel. It strives to develop practical and academic knowledge about family firms and focuses to promote the unique characteristics of Israeli family firms, such as innovation and multiculturalism. 

Location: Tel Aviv, Israel
Director: Nava Michael-Tsabari
and Dan Weiss
Website: link
Research Center for Entrepreneurship and Family Firms | RCEF
Hasselt University – Belgium

The Research Center for Entrepreneurship and Family Firms at Hasselt University (RCEF) is an interdisciplinary group of experts passionate about family firms and entrepreneurship. The mission of the center is to create societal value through relevant and rigorous academic research, education, and high-quality services to business firms and organizations.

Location: Hasselt, Belgium
Director: Wim Voordeckers 
& Nadine Lybaert 
Website: link
Witten Institute for Family Business (WIFU)
Witten/Herdecke University – Germany

The Witten Institute for Family Business (WIFU) of the Faculty of Management, Economics and Society of Witten/Herdecke University is a pioneer in Germany’s academic research and teaching on the special features of family businesses. Three fields of research and teaching – business administration, psychology/sociology and legal sciences – mirror the factors shaping family businesses. This has enabled the WIFU to develop a unique expertise in family businesses, made possible by a group of 80 family businesses. As an institute for family businesses, the WIFU can thus work to support family businesses on an equal footing with them. With its current 21 professors, the WIFU has made significant contributions to the cross-generational viability of family businesses for almost 25 years.

Location: Witten, Germany
Director: Tom Rüsen (Director), Anne Heider (Co-Director), Heiko Kleve (Academic Director)  
Website: link