The aim of this study is to determine whether there are statistically significant differences between small Spanish companies according to their family or non-family nature, in terms of their main economic and financial indicators. The study data analysed correspond to the years 2003, 2007 and 2013, which enabled us to examine whether the characteristics observed and any differences between these companies persisted during a period featuring three different economic scenarios. The study sample was composed of 21,192 small family firms and 4,449 small non-family firms. The results obtained show that, regardless of the national economic situation, there were statistically significant differences between the two types of companies for certain economic and financial indicators. We conclude that the family nature of a company has a negative impact on productivity, the number of employees and levels of investment and turnover. Moreover, family firms face higher costs of external financing than do non-family businesses. En el presente trabajo se analiza, en primer lugar, si existen diferencias estadísticamente significativas entre las pequeñas empresas familiares y no familiares españolas en relación a sus principales indicadores económico-financieros. Se estudian datos referidos a los años 2003, 2007 y 2013, lo que nos permite analizar si las posibles diferencias se mantienen en tres escenarios económicos distintos, para 21192 pequeñas empresas familiares y 4449 pequeñas empresas no familiares. Las conclusiones obtenidas demuestran que, con independencia de la situación económica nacional, entre ambos tipos de empresas se han detectado diferencias estadísticamente significativas en el valor determinados indicadores económico-financieros. Concluimos que es el carácter familiar de las organizaciones el factor que afecta negativamente a la productividad de las organizaciones, al número de trabajadores, a la inversión y a la cifra de negocios. En cuanto al coste de la financiación ajena, las empresas familiares presentan valores más elevados que las empresas no familiares.

This paper analyzes the possible differences in the economic-financial situation of family organizations based on the business dimension. Then, we focus our analysis on SMEs to analyse the influence of the dimension in their performance. For this, information belonging to a large sample composed of 21,149 family businesses and 5,737 non-family businesses in Spain corresponding to the period 2003–2015 is studied. The conclusions obtained show that, although the increase in the dimension of the family organizations is positively related to their performance, there are limits beyond which the value of certain economic-financial indicators can be negatively affected. This behavior is not observed in non-family businesses.

A family identity of a firm, exhibited by the presence of the family name in the business name, can influence the value of economic profitability. The present analysis also explores if this relationship varies depending on the size and the generation running the business. The sample used to conduct this study comprises a panel data set of 21,149 Spanish family firms containing information from 2003 to 2015, which translates into a balanced database including 274,937 observations. For analysis purposes, the firms are classified into small, medium-sized and large ones. Contrary to the competitive advantages brought about by the family identity of the businesses highlighted by previous research, the current study suggests its negative effects on the profitability of small and medium-sized family firms. This effect is more acute when the company is managed by its founding generation. The findings in the case of large family firms indicate that the company name does not have an impact upon economic profitability.