Global Family Business Report 2026: Facing into the Future, Confident Yet Cautious (KPMG)

Summary

• The KPMG Global family business report 2026 captures survey responses from 1,927 senior leaders across 41 countries.p.3
• A high proportion of family business respondents (83%) report having a clear growth strategy for the next 5 to 10 years.p.9
• 59% of respondents acknowledge that growth will be harder to achieve or sustain over the next 5 to 10 years.p.9
• The share of enterprises identifying as a family-run operating business is projected to decline from 49% today to 12% by 2035.p.19
• While 64% of family businesses are actively deploying AI, 38% report having no AI governance framework.p.5
• Only 33% of family enterprises report having a comprehensive enterprise risk management framework that is well established.p.35
• Attracting high-quality external talent is ranked as the single most significant talent challenge by 39% of respondents.p.30

Key insights

1. Expanding geographic footprint is ranked as the top driver of growth through to 2035 by 26% of family business respondents.p.10
2. A total of 66% of family business respondents would prioritize family cohesion out even if that means accepting a lower rate of return.p.9
3. Reinvestment of earnings and shareholder equity is selected as a near-term growth funding source over the next 2 years by 50% of respondents.p.22
4. AI strategy and deployment is identified as the primary capability gap in family businesses, cited by 43% of respondents.p.31
5. Only 27% of respondents strongly agree that their organization has clearly defined roles and accountabilities for risk.p.35