When choosing a guesthouse in the mountains for a winter holiday, family business expert Monika Naďová Krošláková prefers family-run pensions.
“I know that if I wake up with neck pain from a bad pillow, they will bring me their own,” she says, adding that the people behind a family business know that it is this kind of service on which the company’s reputation stands or falls.
Naďová Krošláková has a vested interest in the subject of family businesses – she grew up in one in which her father first produced wine and later, after the fall of communism, moved into plastics. From a young age, she experienced both the positive and negative aspects of family business and the blending of work and personal life.
As an academic, a lecturer, and someone active in entrepreneurial circles, she quickly realised how unique family firms were. They combine economic goals with personal values, business with family relationships, and rationality with emotion.
“I also saw how their significance is often underestimated or even invisible in society,” she tells The Slovak Spectator. “Many family businesses operate modestly and unobtrusively, with an emphasis on quality and continuity, yet they lack the support and recognition that reflect their true impact on the economy and community life. Education, research, consultancy and public awareness are therefore key.”
In an interview with The Slovak Spectator, Naďová Krošláková talks about family businesses in Slovakia, what challenges they face, and more.
What you will learn in this interview
Why family businesses are crucial for Slovakia’s economy
The challenge of combining business with personal values
Why succession is the major problem
What Slovakia lacks in comparison with western countries in terms of family businesses
How important are family businesses to the Slovak economy?
Family businesses play a key role. According to European statistics and analyses, for example from the European Commission, the EPP Group and European Family Businesses, family firms represent more than 60 percent of all enterprises in the EU and generate up to half of private-sector jobs. Slovakia is close to this average: it is estimated that family businesses account for around 60 percent of all enterprises here, employing more than half of those working in the private sector.
