Abstract
Family firms are usually seen as the cradle of entrepreneurship, as they are the best providers of the entrepreneurial business capital. A growing literature shows that family firms are extremely well-placed to assist economic growth in many activities in the private sectors, as they combine a number of unique sociological and economic characteristics that make them extremely important in the early stage of the growth of the firm. However, the way in which economic development produces changes in dominant family patterns has been advanced much more often than the view that family patterns can affect economic development. Therefore, much research is needed to make family firms a central focus in the theoretical and academic research and a crucial issue at the core of the political agenda.