The Contribution of Family Business Groups to the Local Innovation Environment

Abstract

Family firms and family business groups and their role in the local business community are largely unexplored territory in the field of family business as well in the field of regional innovation systems. The focus of this chapter is in regional innovation system and particularly in how family firms and family business groups are embedded in this system. The main research question is what is the role of family business groups for the regional innovation system? The present study is also among the first to analyse the intellectual property rights (IPRs) filing activity by family business groups. Descriptive empirical analysis indicates that family business groups are among the top regional innovators.