{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.015286624203821656, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0, 'mean_word_length': 4.934508816120907, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Challenging Times for European Family Enterprises

It seems somehow appropriate that my involvement with this topical issue devoted to international perspectives on family business was sealed via a transatlantic telephone call connecting Lausanne, Switzerland, with Los Angeles, California. At the other end of the line was Kelin E. Gersick, FBR coeditor, making an offer I just could not turn down. As a European-based reader of FBR, I had been impressed by the high quality of each issue but frustrated by the strong American bias of the contents. While this was perfectly understandable given the origins of the Family Firm Institute and the nationality mix of its members, Gersick and I were in full agreement that FBR's audience should be given the opportunity to expand its horizons beyond the borders of the United States. While strong empirical evidence was lacking, my experience told me that, with the exception of the ever fewer socialist economies, family companies were the predominant form of enterprise throughout the world. Surely FBR could make an important addition to the knowledge base of its readers by compiling a special issue devoted to family enterprises in other corners of the globe. The timing of Gersick's offer could not have been more fortunate as I was about to take several months of sabbatical leave, part spent at Ashridge Management College in the United Kingdom and part spent with John Davis at the Owner Managed Business Institute in Santa Barbara, California. My initial enthusiasm for the concept of this issue was reinforced throughout my travels in Europe and the United States. As I talked with ownermanagers, consultants, and academics, there was an evident thirst to know more about family business in countries outside North America. Compared to what they knew from published sources about American family enterprises, the rest of the world was practically unknown territory. This felt need was the good news. The bad news was that we received more high quality manuscripts than we could ever publish in one issue of FBR. I hope you will be reading many of these in future issues. The other disappointment was that it proved impossible, because of deadlines, to generate manuscripts on several important geographical areas where family business is the backbone of the economy. Sadly lacking are papers on the