On 27 October 2022. The Chair of Family Business of the University of Valencia (CEFUV) promoted by the Valencian Association of Entrepreneurs (AVE), EDEM Business School, the Valencian Institute for the Study of Family Business (IVEFA), the Institute of Family Business (IEF) and the University of Valencia (UV), and sponsored by CaixaBank and Broseta, held the fifth edition of the Family Businesses in the World Conference at EDEM, which analysed the most relevant characteristics and challenges of family businesses in North America and Asia.

Alejandro Escribá, Director of the Chair of Family Business (CEFUV) and Professor at the University of Valencia, welcomed the attendees, stressing the importance of knowing the different realities, as well as their similarities and differences with the Spanish context, and highlighted the interest of these conferences that are being so well received by the business community.  Felipe Pulido, CaixaBank's commercial director of business banking in the Valencia Region, then introduced the international guest speakers.

Kincy Madison, Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Spears School of Business (Oklahoma State University) explained the importance and main characteristics of family businesses in the United States. Professor Madison put a lot of emphasis on the challenges that family businesses face in terms of attracting talent and developing career paths. Professor Madison emphasised the important role played by non-family employees, and the aspects that influence their commitment and contribution to achieving the financial and non-financial goals of family businesses, as well as the paradoxes that arise in their management. 

The situation of family businesses in China/Hong Kong was then discussed by Kevin Yuk-fal Au, Associate Professor and Director of the Centre for Family Enterprise, CUHK, who pointed out that family businesses in China are also of considerable importance, although their institutional context is very different from that in the West, and they have on average a lower average age than in other areas. Professor Au pointed out that family firms in China tend to perform better than non-family firms, especially over long time horizons. In addition, he presented some cases of century-old companies and the peculiarities of their management. In China, family businesses have lower levels of orientation towards the preservation of the socio-emotional wealth of the owner family, and their governance structures still need to evolve and improve compared to those seen in Western countries.

The presentation was followed by a panel discussion, moderated by Eric Clinton, Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship at Dublin City University (DCU Business School), and with the participation of entrepreneurs Manuel Peris, CEO of DAS Audio, and Irene Moreno, Director of External Relations and CSR at Importaco.

In the debate, Manuel Peris, stressed that at DAS Audio "we are a global family business that acts locally in each of these markets through our subsidiaries, always receiving positive feedback in both major countries due to our family capital in a battle with large international non-family firms, always within a professional, demanding, innovative and competitive organisation".

This round table also included the participation of Irene Moreno, who pointed out that in the comparison between the United States and China, Importaco observes that in the US they are quicker in decision-making, they are more pragmatic, which allows them to be more competitive. In contrast, in China they are very efficient, which is influenced by a cultural issue and we could learn from them. Finally, he indicated that in Spain, in general, there is a lot of bureaucracy, which slows down decision-making.

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