1. Introduction: Dynastic Business Families and the "Big Family Management" Research Project -- 2. The Dynastic Business Family as Family, Organisation, and Network -- 3. Six Key Issues and Challenges in Managing Dynastic Business Families -- 4. Committee Structure and Participation Opportunities - Forms of "Appropriate" Family Governance for Dynastic Business Families -- 5. Communication Within the Dynastic Business Family -- 6. Competence Development and Personnel Selection in Dynastic Business Families -- 7. Assets, Distributions and Value Differences -- 8. Conflict Configurations in Dynastic Business Families -- 9. Family Strategies and Management of the Dynastic Business Family.

This book deals with dynastic business families. Such families are characterized by a circle of owners comprising more than 50 family members, which typically face specific issues and challenges for which there has been little research knowledge and practical approaches until now. The book presents results and findings from a special research project on "big family management" where 7 representatives of dynastic families from Germany were studied over a 3-year period. The result was the identification of six topic areas that management in these business families has to deal with. At the same time, the study observes that dynastic business families hardly follow the logic of classic families anymore, but can rather be understood as networks with common family backgrounds. The study also reveals that a large number of business families are heading for large shareholder groups due to changed inheritance practices. The contents outlined here provide an orientation framework for the growing business family.