SPECIFICS OF FAMILY BUSINESSES IN THE WOODWORKING AND FURNITURE INDUSTRY IN SLOVAKIA

A survey into the field of the family business in woodworking and furniture enterprises in Slovakia has not been carried out yet. The presented paper tries to eliminate these shortcomings. Its goal is to map the situation of family woodworking and furniture enterprises in Slovakia as a hitherto unexplored segment to capture a view of their current position together with the main internal and external determinants hindering their development in practice. Based on the results obtained by conducting and evaluating the questionnaire, it can be stated that more than half of enterprises consider a lack of qualified workforce and increasing intensity of competition to hinder their development along with specific problems arising from the nature of family business, which is the underestimation of the issue of succession. A contribution at the level of theory and practice is assumed in the paper as well. The main contribution is characterizing of a family business as the legal definition in the legislative conditions in the Slovak Republic is absent. The contribution also refers to the future direction of the development of the Slovak woodworking and furniture family enterprises.