Family-owned businesses account for much of the wealth created in the United States.  Family firms make up 80 percent to 90 percent of all businesses in North America.  They generate about 64 percent of this country’s total GDP (over $5 trillion) and employ about 62 percent of the total US workforce.  After much neglect, both business professionals and academicians have recognized the importance of family-owned businesses.  Today, more than one hundred universities in the United States and abroad offer forums, seminars, and courses relating to family businesses.  And the material written about family businesses can now fill a small library.

Family-owned businesses play a particularly important role in the printing industry.  Despite the consolidation that is now well underway, the US printing industry is still a highly fragmented industry that is made up predominately of small companies.  Given the structure of the industry, it is almost certain that a large majority of US printing companies are family-owned businesses.

Keeping a family business healthy and prosperous is perhaps the most difficult management job on earth.  Family firms face all of the same challenges that confront non-family-owned companies.  Changes in market and competitive environments, disruptive technological developments, pricing and cost pressures, and a host of other events and conditions can create problems and pitfalls for all companies, whether family-owned or not.  But family businesses also face additional challenges.  Family involvement adds several layers of complexity to the already difficult task of managing a successful business.  Most of the added complexity can be traced to the fact that every family member who works in the business must simultaneously manage two very different kinds of relationships with every other family member who’s involved in the business.