Maximilian Lantelme Boeken

Focusing on the evolution of Germany's largest enterprises from 1958 to 2018, this study explores ownership structures, operational continuity, and solvency trends. It reveals that over half of the companies failed, while family-owned firms demonstrated more stable ownership and higher survival rates compared to public companies. Historical methods provide insights into the industrial landscape and the impact of factors like public listings on family ownership. The book concludes with practical implications drawn from the patterns observed in both successful and failed enterprises.

This professional guide presents an extensive overview of the German family enterprise landscape, with a special focus on its structure and diversity. Analyzing data from over 500 family firms, it offers a valuable reference guide for market research and academic research on family-owned enterprises.

Maximilian Lantelme examines the historical growth and decline developments of large German family and non-family businesses between 1971 and 2011. Based on a sample of the 143 largest German companies in 1971 and in 2011, the author investigates the long-term development of each company and calculates compound annual growth rates (CAGR) to compare the developments of total sales and of the number of employees between the enterprises with the overall development of the German economy. Additionally, he presents the exit rates as well as the reasons for the downfalls of the different types of companies. The results show a superior development of family businesses especially compared to non-family businesses due to lower exit and higher growth rates. The strategic implications are that family businesses should achieve a certain corridor of growth in the long-term to secure the company’s existence over generations.