Proximity to customers gives family businesses an edge

Surveys consistently find family-owned businesses are the most trusted type of business worldwide

Customers feel they know the people behind a family business and that their support helps sustain a local enterprise. Picture: iStock

If knowing your audience is the secret to success, family businesses have the edge. Many of these businesses are strongly rooted in the communities they serve, and this proximity to their customer base gives them an often unmatched competitive advantage.

According to Catherine Faherty, assistant professor of enterprise at DCU Business School and associate director of the DCU Centre for Family Business, that proximity creates trust. “The Edelman Trust Barometer, an annual global survey of 30,000-plus respondents across 28 countries, consistently finds that family-owned businesses are the most trusted type of business worldwide,” she says.