The management field increasingly recognizes that most firms in the world are family firms and that these entities operate differently from the non-family firms on which most of our current management theories are based. The De Gruyter Handbook of Business Families brings together work from leading academics who explore emerging research themes relevant to business families, particularly drawing in new insights from adjacent disciplines that can advance the family business field.

The handbook challenges the traditional notion of the 'single firm-single family' that has characterized most early research on family business. Recognizing that families may simultaneously own or control multiple businesses as well as substantial wealth beyond these firms in the form of financial and non-financial assets, this handbook focuses on business families rather than the narrower construct of family business. The contributions in this handbook explore the relatively neglected dynamics between individuals with family ties that shape the interaction between family and business; business families with multiple businesses; how business families adopt formal rules and processes around their joint activities; and the institutionalization of wealth and business families in society.

The De Gruyter Handbook of Business Families fills a gap in the family business research literature and is an essential reference work for researchers and graduate-level students in the area of business families.

Michael Carney (PhD, University of Bradford, UK) is the Senior Concordia University Research Chair in Strategy and Entrepreneurship at the John Molson School of Business, Concordia University, Canada. He has published extensively on the corporate and organizational strategies of Asia's family-owned business groups and on the development of the global institutional environment of international aviation. His research focuses on entrepreneurship and the comparative analysis of business, financial and governance systems and their influence upon the development of firm capabilities and national competitiveness. He has published in journals such as the Academy of Management Journal, Asia Pacific Business Review, Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Economic and Industrial Democracy, Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, Family Business Review, Journal of Management Studies, Management and Organization Review, Organization Studies, and Strategic Management Journal.

Marleen Dieleman (PhD, Leiden University, the Netherlands) is Associate Professor of Strategy and Family Business at NUS Business School at the National University of Singapore. Her research focuses on the strategy and governance of Asian family business groups. Her publications are mostly based on qualitative research, exploring how firms navigate the boundaries with institutions in emerging markets, in particular in Southeast Asia. She has published widely, including academic articles in journals such as the Journal of Management Studies, Organization Studies, Journal of World Business and others. She has also published two books, various book chapters and numerous cases. Her work has been cited regularly in popular press, including the Economist and the Financial Times.