Attitudes and Behaviour of Family Businesses in Slovenia Compared to the Europe

The entrepreneurial wave after the year 1990 has witnessed the creation of a number of new family businesses in Slovenia. However, the period of socialism caused the tradition of family businesses vanish and new businesses that currently start facing the succession questions do not have clear answers to some dilemmas. On the basis of an international research we studied the attitudes and behaviour of Slovenian family businesses as compared to 16 other countries in order to identify differences and some issues where the Slovenian practice differ for some cultural and other reasons that might cause some problems for the founding generation and/or the future operations of businesses and the opportunities for the new generations of ownermanagers. The research involving 222 small businesses in Slovenia confirmed the view that Slovenian family businesses do not present any extravagant behaviour however, the family orientation is stronger and these firms are rather “closed” to outside managers and investors.Family businesses are intended to be sources of jobs and incomes for families, they are rather conservative on the issue of growth, with more emotions guiding the decision-making process and preferring family members.