Outside owners strengthen growth in Italian family firms
Employment rises by over 5 percent within three years when Italian family firms transfer control to outsiders. A Bank of Italy paper published on October 13, 2026 finds stronger gains under non-financial corporate owners.
Family control gains ground
Michele Cascarano, Sara Garbin, Sauro Mocetti and Francesca Modena analyze 2014-2024 data from INFOCAMERE, CERVED and INPS, covering about 463,000 firms annually.
Family ownership means shareholders sharing a surname hold over 50 percent of capital, including indirect holdings.
Its share rose from nearly 68 to over 72 percent of corporations, accounting for 45 percent of employment in 2024.
Market entry, greater survival and sectoral and regional composition explain the increase.
Family-managed firms have about 7 percent lower productivity and over 6 percent fewer employees than non-family firms after controls, but higher operating margins and lower exit rates.
Lower labor costs support margins; productivity disadvantages widen among medium-sized and large firms.
Succession opens the ownership door
Over one in five family firms has a shareholder aged at least 65. About 3 percent of this group transfers control annually, at an average owner age approaching 75. Among survivors five years later, three in five remain with the same family.
Internal succession brings little performance change; outside control accompanies employment gains exceeding 5 percent after three years.
Non-financial corporate buyers drive productivity gains.
Istat survey responses identify knowledge transfer, bureaucracy and a lack of suitable heirs as succession barriers, particularly for smaller firms.
Association is not causation
The authors link outside ownership to industrial integration and organizational strengthening.
Transfers are voluntary and more frequent among larger, mature and productive firms, limiting causal interpretation.
They recommend focusing policy on institutional, tax and market barriers to opening ownership.