Abstract:
Drawing on data obtained from 765 small and medium sized enterprises, this paper explores the extent to which family ownership influences firm's strategic orientation. Through a cluster analysis, different groups of organizations were identified, defined by the strategic development of their management practices. Nevertheless, the statistical tests developed showed that there was no relationship between family ownership and firm's adscription to any of the clusters identified. In this sense, data seem to confirm that there are no significant differences between family and non family owned SME to what their strategic management means.