Discussion and conclusion
Discussion of the main effects results Certainly, the overall tendency in the findings is that there is a positive association between a firm’s status as a family business and its financial performance. This finding is encouraging for those who wish to lay to restthe notion thatfamily governance is a liability – hardly a surprising conclusion considering that family firms are the most dominant form of enterprise in the world (La Porta, Lopez-de-Silanes, & Shleifer, 1999). However, the picture is not entirely unambiguous. It appears that family ownership rather than other modes of family involvement in governance is most salutary – a result that makes sense given that owners may be influential and motivated monitors but, particularly in later generations and larger firms, may be less than effective managers (Bloom & Van Reenen, 2007; Block, Miller, & Jaskiewicz, 2011; Miller, Minichilli, Le Breton-Miller, Corbetta, & Pittino, 2014). It is also notable that family firms do best when their performance is measured according to ROA, a measure that is not as influenced by financial structure as ROE.5 Moreover, given the family firm emphasis on sustainable performance rather than quick returns (Miller & Le BretonMiller, 2005), it is not surprising that family firms did not shine particularly brightly in their growth rates.
