Family Businesses in European Countries. An Economic Analysis Based on Web Scraping

Family businesses play an important role in the European economy. However, internationally comparable data are scarce. The aim of this study is to identify family businesses and to analyse their role in the European economy. An approach based on artificial intelligence and web scraping is used to identify family businesses in several EU member countries. This allows an analysis of structural differences in the role of family businesses in the economy. For example, the share of family businesses in each country (number, employment, turnover) and possible structural differences are presented. The approach is in line with previous studies for Germany.