Succession, Money, and Relationships Were Top-10 Topics in 2023

FamilyBusiness.org aspires to be the #1 peer-reviewed resource for thought leadership in family business for owners and leaders, students, and professors. To achieve this goal, we are building a platform where expert scholars, advisors and practitioners can share insights to benefit the global community of family businesses. 

For authors, we provide a fast peer review cycle and growing global readership that provides thought leaders with a means to quickly share insights with family businesses across the globe. With the help of our authors, reviewers, and outstanding editorial team, the formula appears to be working. FamilyBusiness.org continued to grow in traffic and impact in 2023, achieving nearly 3.5 million page views. We are now the world’s most-visited site dedicated to family firms. More than 1,000 authors have submitted articles to our site and to EIX, our sister publication.

Our 10 most popular articles in 2023 showed that our site visitors wanted information about managing succession and getting the next generation ready for leadership; handling inflation and other money issues; and dealing with conflict among family members. 

Here are the 10 articles that attracted the most site visitors in 2023. Among them are articles that were published in prior years. On behalf of the editorial team at FamilyBusiness.org, we hope you have a productive and successful year. If you are an author, please consider us as an outlet for your important work on family businesses. 

How to Plan for a Successful Succession

(Published January 22, 2019)

By Richard Eisenberg

Smart family business succession planning can be the key to sustaining the company in the future and keeping it flourishing, but few family business owners are doing a good job at it. 

461,376                       2023 Views

486,497                       All-Time Views

Developing Competent Owners and Stewards for a Lasting Family Business

(Published April 12, 2022)

By Claudia Binz Astrachan

The ultimate goal of many enterprising families is growing a prospering organization stewarded by a committed group of united family owners. Many struggle with managing the increasingly dispersed and diverse family group. 

164,895                       2023 Views

268,575                      All-Time Views

Dealing with Inflation: Advice from the Experts

(Published April 20, 2022)

By Kimberly Eddleston

To help family businesses navigate issues arising from inflation, we asked several members of our acclaimed FamilyBusiness.org board for advice. 

141,573                       2023 Views

223,631                      All-Time Views

Strategies for Keeping Your Family Connected

(Published January 11, 2022)

By Kimberly Eddleston

Mitzi Perdue, Frank's widow, discusses strategies based on her workbook for helping older generations share their wisdom and experiences with younger ones and strengthen commitment to the family and the business. 

115,072                       2023 Views

143,000                       All-Time Views

Family Firms: How Much Cash is Enough?

(Published April 19, 2022)

By Yuliya Ponomareva , Domenico Cambrea, Daniel Pittino and Alessandro Minichilli

Each firm has a certain optimal level of cash holdings where the performance benefits are the highest; accumulating cash beyond this optimal level will result in a performance decrease. 

56,290                        2023 Views

125,212                      All-Time Views

Women Show Their Strengths When Family Businesses Are in Trouble

(Published October 17, 2023)

By Allan Discua Cruz, Eleanor Hamilton, Giovanna Campopiano and Sarah Jack

Research showed that women’s influence actually was far greater than their official roles in the firm would suggest, especially when a crisis strikes. 

30,775                       2023 Views

Will Your In-Laws Help or Hurt Your Family Business?

(Published September 14, 2023)

By Marco Mismetti, Emanuela Rondi and Cristina Bettinelli

As the Gucci family and Royal Family show, in-laws can impact the business for better or for worse. Here's how to make it for better.

26,427                     2023 Views

Should Family Businesses Have Employee Ownership Plans?

(Published October 18,2022)

By Corey Rosen

If you are thinking of forming an ESOP, start as early as possible. You need to plan early so that you can start the ownership transition well before retirement. 

20,525                       2023 Views

23,425                       All-Time Views

Should Family Members Be the 'Face' of Your Company?

(Published October 7, 2022)

By Jonas Ruzek, Ben Cooper and Kimberly Eddleston

While it does create a sense of stability and trust with consumers, it can also be disastrous if the family misbehaves and consumers find out. 

19,719                         2023 Views

22,089                         All-Time Views

Here's Why Family Businesses Need Branding

(Published November 8, 2023)

By Kimberly Eddleston

For family businesses, branding goes well beyond logos and advertising slogans. It gets to the heart of what makes a family firm successful and admired by customers, suppliers, employees and other stakeholders: its reputation. 

19,696                       2023 Views