FAMILY BUSINESSES IN THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT OF SLOVAKIA AND EUROPEAN UNION

The main purpose of this article is to compare family businesses in the Slovakia and in the European Union. Even the family businesses are a traditional way of conducting business within the private sector, attention to this topic has occurred only recently. According to the findings regarding the number of family firms and their share in employment, we can conclude that their importance for the European economy is essential. On the other hand, these companies are struggling with many problems. As the most important we can mention a successful implementation of intergeneration transfers, problems with external financial sources and also the conflicts disrupting the family life. Government support could effectively help with solving some of those problems. To address such support precisely to those companies which need it, is very difficult, while there is still no definition clearly defining the family business.