This book provides an extensive overview of family business-related topics such as context and uniqueness, lifecycle and ownership configurations, conflict management, corporate governance, succession challenges, internationalization, innovation, and socioemotional wealth. Each chapter features clear learning objectives, key concepts and terminology, and dedicated case studies to demonstrate the main messages. The book not only considers the day-to-day dynamics in family businesses, but also places substantial emphasis on the entrepreneurial skills needed for these businesses to survive and thrive, today and tomorrow. In addition, it elaborates and discusses a number of best practice examples, which offer valuable guidance not only for scholars, but also for students who wish to study these challenges.

America is a nation where a strong entrepreneurial culture establishes favorable conditions for subsequent entrepreneurship activity. I develop and test a model that comprises the determinants and consequences of new venture creation in American counties. The empirical results using a sample of 2,300 counties support direct and mediation effects between determinants of new venture creation and economic development and growth. This study contributes to knowledge by empirically testing an existing framework of entrepreneurship as well as assessing how new venture creation improves the economic development and growth in American counties. Particularly, the study finds environmental determinants to foster new venture creation and confirms the contention that new venture creation contributes to improve the economic conditions of a region. Recommendations for future theoretical and empirical research as well as practical implications for entrepreneurs and policymakers are also discussed.