S02-E15 - "Balancing Legacy and Progress: Environmental and Social Sustainability Practices in European Union Family Firms"

The 15th episode of the 2nd season of podNECE presents a study that investigates how family businesses across the 27 European Union member states integrate environmental and social sustainability into their operations. By analyzing over 2,500 firms, the authors identify four distinct adoption profiles, ranging from "advanced implementers" to "non-implementers," alongside three country-level groupings that reflect regional variations. The study highlights that smaller, older companies with moderate turnovers are often the most active in adopting these measures, frequently prioritizing social initiatives over environmental ones. Using frameworks like socioemotional wealth and stakeholder theory, the text explains that family firms' long- term perspectives and values drive this strategic heterogeneity. Ultimately, the findings suggest that policymakers should avoid one-size-fits-all approaches, instead favoring strategies that account for the diverse characteristics and geographic contexts of family-run enterprises.https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.71222podNECE is a podcast by NECE - Research Centre for Business Sciences, University of Beira Interior, Portugal.