Reinvention on the edge of tomorrow

Of the total respondents, family businesses almost equally split between public and private sectors. Public family businesses, dominated by a single family but publicly traded, stand out as large enterprises, with 44% reporting turnovers over US$1 billion and 7% exceeding US$25 billion. In contrast, non-family businesses show lower percentages in these high-revenue brackets. Private family businesses tend to be smaller, while public family businesses are notable employers, with 15% having over 25,000 employees.

Some CEOs across all sectors – including many family businesses – are moving rapidly to capture the potential for growth and value creation presented by the defining forces of our era. They’re investing in generative AI (GenAI), addressing the opportunities and threats posed by climate change, and reinventing their operations and business models to create value in new ways. 

Two defining issues: AI and climate change

Early returns on GenAI 

• CEOs in public family businesses are leading the way on generating higher revenue and profitability from GenAI. 
  • 47% of them saying it has boosted their profitability in 2024, against one-third (32%) of CEOs in non-family businesses.
  • Private family businesses are lagging behind, with only 27% citing improved profitability.
• In the next 12 months, family businesses expect profitability boosts from GenAI, in line with overall trends. Public family businesses show slightly higher expectations at 54%.

The upside from climate action 

Investments in climate actions and sustainability are paying off, especially for public family businesses.

• 46% of them report that climate-friendly investments made over the last five years have resulted in increased revenue. 
• Private family businesses, of whom 27% report increased revenues from climate investments, are broadly in line with non-family businesses in this regard.

Sectoral Fluidity

Three decades of digitisation have begun eroding sector boundaries. Moving forward, interactions among climate change, AI, and other megatrends will accelerate reconfiguration, creating new cross-sector growth domains.

• 38% of non-family CEOs have expanded into new industries—a trend reflected by both public and private family firms.
• Four in ten CEOs in both family and non-family businesses believe their company will no longer be viable in ten years if it continues on its current path.

Optimism Amidst Longevity Concerns

CEOs overall are optimistic about the near-term outlook, even as they worry about their own company’s long-term viability.

Family businesses' expectations of economic growth recovery

Reinvention and New Revenue Sources

Many business leaders recognise the need to reinvent their business models. However, the overall pace of transformation is slow, yet public family businesses show a slight edge. Non-family business CEOs – and those of private family businesses – say only 7% of their revenue over the past five years has come from distinct new businesses set up during this period, but this figure rises to 9% among public family businesses.