The family enterprise and business strategies

The focus of this article is the character of the entrepreneurial, managerial and preservation strategies characterising successful family businesses. It includes majority white and minority ethnic business in a variety of enterprises across the different sectors and argues that the notion of a shared business culture embedded in a shared class background best describes their approach to enterprise. This particular business culture which embodies a set of values, beliefs and strategies is derived from the practice of creating, managing and sustaining the institution of family capitalism, but is essentially an expression of the middle class social attributes of the business families as opposed to a reflection of specific ethnicities.