Content from the Family Business feature to The Globe and Mail Published Thursday, Apr. 09, 2015 12:14PM EDT
Family businesses are an integral part of the economy, providing jobs, contributing to prosperity in their communities and boosting Canada’s productivity. But ask an academic, researcher or statistician to quantify the socio-economic impact of family businesses and the answer will likely be a general estimate or a plain “I don’t know.”
“We believe that family enterprises are at the root of regional prosperity, especially when you move out of the big city centres,” says Robert Blunden, associate professor of strategic management and family enterprise at Dalhousie University’s Rowe School of Business in Halifax. “Yet in Canada, very little is known about the real extent, the real impact, of family businesses.”
This knowledge gap may soon be bridged, at least in Atlantic Canada. Working in partnership with St. Mary’s University in Halifax, Dalhousie’s Centre for Family Business and Regional Prosperity recently launched a study to determine the extent and nature of family businesses in the region. The research team, which includes Mr. Blunden, sent a preliminary survey last year to 2,667 Atlantic Canada businesses. This yielded 246 responses, of which 117 were usable.
To read more, visit our Media section.
Blunden and Associates 
