Center for Family Business 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, resilience, and local rootedness across Europe and beyond. Its three pillars — Think, Teach, Act — shape the Center’s mission to advance understanding and strengthen family businesses for a sustainable future.
"The Family Business Center at HEC Paris is committed to better understand, teach, and act for the contribution of family businesses to sustainable prosperity. It deepens our understanding of how this form of governance with a human face, focusing on long-term, contributes to a resilient and responsible economy that values both local territories and people."
— Dr. Cécile de Lisle, Executive Director of the Deiter Schwarz Center for Family Business
Think
We conduct interdisciplinary research to deepen understanding of family businesses—their governance, intergenerational transmission, and their impact on communities. By drawing on HEC Paris’s world-class faculty and strong industry partnerships, we explore how this human-centered, long-term governance model contributes to resilient and responsible economies. Our research is designed as a public good, accessible far beyond academic circles, to enrich public understanding and inform policy discussions on the role of family businesses in society.
Teach
We develop innovative teaching methods and practical tools—including behavioral simulations and case studies—to train current and future family business stakeholders: students, successors, entrepreneurs, and executives. These resources are designed to address the specificities of the family business model and are shared widely with other universities and institutions, amplifying their reach and fostering global knowledge exchange.
Act
We strive to favor family businesses transmission, scale and entrepreneurial spirit. We encourage family talents, true entrepreneur-rebuilders, to take up the baton, grow family businesses and drive innovation, specifically by offering them mentorship and support through our incubators and accelerators. Through publications, testimonials and events, we foster dialogue and strengthen ties among family businesses in Europe—particularly France and Germany— while building connections with global partners to share insights and learn from diverse approaches to governance and longevity. We aspire to be a place where researchers, students, family talents and policymakers come together to strengthen the economic and societal impact of this vital ecosystem.
Our Members
The Family Business Center gathers not only professors from HEC Paris, but also PhD students, research affiliates, research fellows, visiting professors, and members of the HEC staff.
The HEC Paris - Family Business Center gathers not only professors from HEC Paris, but also PhD students, associate fellows, visiting professors, and members of the HEC staff.
Often perceived as traditional or inward-looking, family businesses are in fact at the heart of our economies, combining long-term vision, strong local roots, and human-centered governance.
News
We are delighted to invite you to the fourth edition of the HEC S&O Purpose Day, hosted by the HEC Paris S&O Institute Purpose Center in partnership with the Oxford University Centre for Corporate Reputation and POLIMI Graduate School of Management. The event will take place on April 7, 2026, at Maison Internationale, Cité universitaire de Paris.