Center for Family Business

The HEC Paris – Dieter Schwarz Center for Family Business is an academic center dedicated to advancing research and education around the distinctive characteristics of family businesses. It strives to favor their transmission, scale and entrepreneurial spirit. From small firms to global champions, family businesses are key drivers of long-term value creation, resilience and local rootedness across Europe and beyond.

Structured around three pillars — Think, Teach, Act — the Center’s mission is to better understand and strengthen family businesses for a sustainable future. It conducts interdisciplinary research to deepen understanding of family business governance, intergenerational transmission and their impact on communities. Designed as a public good, this research draws on HEC Paris’s faculty and strong industry partnerships to explore how a human-centered, long-term governance model contributes to resilient and responsible economies.

The Center also develops innovative teaching methods and practical tools — including case studies and behavioral simulations — for students, successors, entrepreneurs and executives. Through publications, testimonials and events, it fosters dialogue and strengthens ties among family businesses in Europe, particularly between France and Germany, while building connections with global partners. The Center brings together professors, PhD students, associate fellows, visiting professors and members of the HEC staff, committed to better understanding, teaching and acting for the contribution of family businesses to sustainable prosperity.