Status: 07/07/2021 1:57 p.m.
Owner-managed companies have always been one of the strengths of the German economy. But fewer of them than before are still among the top-selling family businesses in the world.
In a worldwide comparison of sales, the German family businesses still occupy second place behind the USA. But their share is decreasing. According to a study by the auditing company PwC, 96 of the 750 largest family-controlled companies around the world come from Germany. Last year there were 108, a year earlier even 119.
While Germany maintains second place, the United States, as in the previous year, is at the top with 166 of the world’s 750 largest family businesses. China / Hong Kong follows in third place with 79 (2020: 73) companies. According to the study’s authors, the main reason for the shifts is that companies now have to generate significantly higher annual sales in order to be included in the ranking. The minimum turnover increased compared to 2019 by a fifth to 2.68 billion dollars.
Deficits in digitization
In addition, German family businesses have been showing deficits in digitization for years, explained Uwe Rittmann, Head of Family Businesses and Medium-Sized Enterprises at PwC Germany. Only a third of the companies certify that they have pronounced digital skills.
Europe as a whole comes to 298 of the 750 listed companies, 188 each from North America and Asia-Pacific. In Europe, Germany continues to be the clear leader in terms of the number of family businesses, ahead of France (36) and Italy (23). According to the evaluation, the US retailer Walmart of the Walton family remains the world’s top-selling family company.
Number one in Europe
Three representatives from Germany are among the top ten in the ranking: Volkswagen (2nd place / families Porsche and Piëch), the Lidl mother Schwarz Group (9th place / Schwarz family) and the car manufacturer BMW (10th place / Quandt families and Klatten). The German family businesses can also look back on a comparatively long company history: According to the calculations, their average age is 110 years, well above the global average of 81 years. The oldest German company in the ranking is the Heraeus technology group, founded in 1660.
Despite the drastic drop in sales, German family businesses have largely overcome the corona pandemic on their own. Only 19 percent were dependent on external capital, and the owner family only had to inject money in every tenth family company, according to a PwC survey. Three quarters of the companies surveyed did not have to lay off any employees, they stuck to bonuses and distributions.
For the current year, a majority of family businesses are anticipating growth again, and 89 percent are expecting sales growth in 2022, including every tenth company in the double-digit range.