Family businesses are those businesses at least 50% owned by a single family. The businesses perform leading roles in the global economy as they represent the largest number of economic ventures worldwide. They represent the oldest type of commercial organisation and are now the key driver of wealth creation in both emerging and developed economies. A family business is of utter significance in the economy of a country. It is one of the oldest economic systems with a substantial contribution to the GNP or Gross National Product of a country, total export, and total employment. Innovation is crucial to the survival of firms. These longstanding family firms provide interesting lessons for others on how to sustain innovation across generations. Intergenerational succession lies at the heart of the longstanding family firm. Succession has in it the potential for change and regeneration of the firm, based upon bedrock of shared experience and history. The Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and business owners, sooner or later, must hand over the ownership and management of the company to other persons, with such transfers taking place either suddenly or in planned approaches. The business and the family are thus intimately interrelated with the business controlled by family members within the scope of obtaining its success and guaranteeing its sustainability by transferring it to future generations. The multiplicity of family businesses and their behaviour make them an important field of study of EDD and one which is naturally multidisciplinary, involving sociology, economics, management theories, culture and history. Research on family firms requires the analysis of the complex interaction of family and firm, the forces underlying family values and the way these shape the business culture, behaviour, and capabilities of firms. The Division EDD research shows that different types of family firms can be identified and those high-performing family firms are an outlier group that differs in size, ownership and management structures from the stereotypical ‘average’ family firm. EDD research will also focus on differentiating family businesses from other types of businesses; explaining the unique interface between the family and the business; and identifying the characteristics (i.e., demographics, adjustment strategies, continuity, capitals, and values and goals) for family business survival and success.