Konstante Gewinne, hohe Innovationskraft, gute Produktqualität und treibende Kraft der deutschen Wirtschaft – das sind die Gründe dafür, dass Familienunternehmen ein sehr hohes Maß an Vertrauen entgegengebracht wird. Sieben von zehn Befragten halten diese Art von Unternehmen für am glaubwürdigsten. Das zeigen die Ergebnisse einer Sonderausgabe des Edelman Trust Barometers 2014.

1. November 2014
Germany Report
EDELMAN
TRUST
BAROMETER
Family Owned Enterprise Supplement

2. SUMMER SUPPLEMENT
WHO WE ARE INTERVIEWING
2
• 20 minute online questionnaire
• General population; Informed Publics*
• 12 countries (Brazil, China, France, Germany, India,
Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, UK, US,
Saudi Arabia & Spain)
• 1000 respondents per country
• Results will be analysed through two lenses:
general population and Informed Publics
(two sets of data)
*Natural fallout within each market
Indicates Global Data
Indicates Germany Data

3. SUMMER SUPPLEMENT
FAMILY-OWNED BUSINESSES ENJOY A TRUST ADVANTAGE OVER OTHER BUSINESS
TYPES AMONG GERMAN GENERAL PUBLICS
GENERAL PUBLICS TRUST LARGE AND SMALL FAMILY-OWNED BUSINESSES MORE THAN OTHER BUSINESS TYPES. INFORMED
PUBLICS ARE MORE TRUSTING OF PRIVATELY-HELD FIRMS THAN FAMILY-OWNED BUSINESSES
79% 80%
84%
60%
65%
73%
66%
60%
49%
42%
SMALL FAMILY-OWNED LARGE FAMILY-OWNED PRIVATELY-HELD STATE-OWNED PUBLICLY-TRADED
Q5. Thinking about these different types of businesses, please indicate how much you trust each type of business to do what is right using a 9-point scale where one
means that you “do not trust them at all” and nine means that you “trust them a great deal.” NET Trust (Top 4 Box)
7 in 10
general publics trust family–
owned businesses
INFORMED PUBLICS
GENERAL PUBLICS

4. SUMMER SUPPLEMENT
ENTREPRENEURS/FOUNDERS ARE EXPECTED TO ENSURE OPERATIONAL TRANSPARENCY
OVER 7 IN 10 GENERAL PUBLICS IN GERMANY SAY THAT ENTREPRENEURS/FOUNDERS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR MAKING SURE THAT
THEIR BUSINESS IS TRANSPARENT ABOUT THEIR OPERATIONS, A FIGURE WHICH RISES TO 81% AMONG INFORMED PUBLICS
84%
90%
88% 88% 88%
85% 85% 83% 83%
81%
78%
76% 74%
76%
88%
83% 83% 83%
76% 76%
74% 73% 71%
73%
64%
72%
TOTAL Mexico India Indonesia China Spain Brazil US UK Germany Russia Saudi
Arabia
France
Q29: Please indicate how much you agree with each of the following statements – “Entrepreneurs/ founders are responsible to make sure that their business is
transparent about their operations” NET Agree (Top 4 box) General Publics, 12-country global total, Informed Publics, 12-country global total
INFORMED PUBLICS
GENERAL PUBLICS

5. SUMMER SUPPLEMENT
FAMILY-OWNED BUSINESSES SHOULD FOCUS COMMUNICATIONS EFFORTS ON NEW PRODUCTS,
EMPLOYMENT ISSUES, AND INNOVATION
MOST IMPORTANT COMMUNICATION TOPICS FOR FAMILY-OWNED BUSINESSES BY MARKET
New Products
Innovation
Employment
New Products
Innovation
Sustainability Policies
Employment
New Products
Innovation
New Products
Employment
Supply Chain
New Products
Innovation
CSR Policies
Employment
New Products
Finances
New Products
Employment
Innovation
Employment
New Products
Innovation
Employment
New Products
Sustainability Policies
New Products
Finances
Innovation
Sustainability Policies
New Products
Supply Chain
New Products
Innovation
Finances
Q10: Below is a list of areas a company can communicate about. In general, when forming an opinion of _____, how important are each of the following areas to be
transparent about to build your trust in that company? NET Important (Top 4 Box) General Publics, 12-country global total

6. SUMMER SUPPLEMENT
ENTREPRENEURS/FOUNDERS TRUSTED TO MAKE THE RIGHT SUCCESSION DECISION; LESS EXPECTED TO PASS
BUSINESS ON TO FAMILY MEMBER IN GERMANY THAN GLOBALLY
EXPECTATIONS OF ENTREPRENEURS
Q29. Please indicate how much you agree with each of the following statements. NET Agree (Top 4 Box) General Publics
71%
69%
61%
58%
44%
ENTREPRENEURS/ FOUNDERS ARE RESPONSIBLE TO MAKE
SURE THAT THEIR BUSINESS IS TRANSPARENT ABOUT THEIR
OPERATIONS
ENTREPRENEURS/ FOUNDERS HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO
MAKE A CONTRIBUTION TO SOCIETY
ENTREPRENEURS/ FOUNDERS OF SMALL- TO MEDIUM-
SIZED BUSINESSES ARE MORE INNOVATIVE THAN
ENTREPRENEURS OF BIG BUSINESSES
ENTREPRENEURS/ FOUNDERS WILL PICK THE RIGHT
PERSON TO SUCCEED THEM IN THEIR BUSINESS
ENTREPRENEURS/ FOUNDERS SHOULD PASS THEIR
BUSINESSES ON TO A SUCCESSOR FROM THEIR FAMILY

7. SUMMER SUPPLEMENT
TRANSITION CAN GROW TRUST IF DONE WELL; CAN HARM TRUST IF MISHANDLED
POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE IMPACT ON TRUST OF FAMILY-OWNED BUSINESS BEING PASSED ON TO A FAMILY MEMBER
Q30. If the owner of a FAMILY-OWNED BUSINESS passed ownership or leadership of that business to a member of their family, how would that affect your trust in the
business? NET Trust More (Top 2 Box), NET Trust Less (Bottom 2 Box) General Publics, 12-country global total
NB: Don’t know responses have been excluded
31%
46%
43%
38%
35%
33% 33%
28%
27%
25% 25%
24%
16%17%
18%
12%
17% 16% 17%
12%
15%
8%
41%
9%
16%
19%
Total India Brazil Indonesia Mexico Saudi
Arabia
Germany Spain US China UK France Russia
NET Trust More
NET Trust Less

8. SUMMER SUPPLEMENT
IMPORTANT FACTORS TO BUILDING TRUST WHILE PASSING ON OWNERSHIP OF FAMILY-OWNED BUSINESS
Q31. If the owner of a FAMILY-OWNED BUSINESS passed ownership or leadership of that business to a member of their family, how important would the following factors
be to building your trust in the business? NET Important (Top 4 Box) General Publics, 12-country global total
NEXT GENERATION FAMILY MEMBER MUST BE APPOINTED ON MERIT, AND HAVE
DEMONSTRATED THEIR COMMITMENT TO THE FUTURE OF THE BUSINESS
76%
76%
75%
74%
72%
62%
Evidence that the family member has
been appointed on merit
Evidence of the successor’s commitment
to the future of the business before
succession is completed
Clear, effective, and transparent
communications over the transition
period
Demonstrating the business experience
of the new family member within the
business
Showing relevant outside industry
experience of the new family member in
the business
A long transition period

9. SUMMER SUPPLEMENT
Q15. Now thinking about family-owned businesses in general, how much do you agree with each of the following statements? Please use a nine-point scale where one
means “strongly disagree” and nine means “strongly agree”. NET Agree (Top 4 Box) General Publics9
FAMILY-OWNED BUSINESSES ARE EXPECTED TO BE PURPOSE DRIVEN
EXPECTATIONS OF FAMILY-OWNED BUSINESSES
76%
67%
67%
64%
64%
62%
62%
61%
58%
Family-owned businesses should be TRANSPARENT
ABOUT THEIR PHILANTHROPY
A family-owned business should KEEP THEIR
CHARITABLE SUPPORT SEPARATE FROM THEIR
BUSINESS INTERESTS
Family-owned businesses should FOCUS THEIR
CONTRIBUTIONS ON THE COMMUNITY WHERE THEY
ARE HEADQUARTERED
A family-owned business should INVEST IN
FOUNDATIONS ALIGNED WITH THEIR BUSINESS
INTERESTS
Family-owned businesses should PARTICIPATE IN
PHILANTHROPY THROUGH DONATING MONEY TO
SPECIFIC CHARITIES
Family-owned businesses should CONTRIBUTE TO
COMMUNITIES IN ALL MARKETS IN WHICH THEY
OPERATE
Family-owned businesses should BE ASSOCIATED WITH
CAUSE-RELATED MARKETING^
Family-owned businesses should FOCUS ON IMPACT
INVESTING*
Family-owned businesses should ACTIVELY
ENCOURAGE THEIR EMPLOYEES TO ENGAGE IN
PHILANTHROPY
*Impact investing is the placement of investments into businesses, organisations and funds designed to tackle social and environmental problems
alongside creating a financial return; ^Cause-related marketing is a collaboration between a corporation and a non-profit for mutual benefit
55%
Expect family-owned
business to focus on
philanthropy more than non
family-owned businesses

10. SUMMER SUPPLEMENT
Environment
Education
Human Rights
Environment
Education
Social Causes
Social Causes
Education
Environment
Environment
Human Rights
Poverty
Poverty
Social Causes
Health
Social Causes
Environment
Human Rights
Social Causes
Environment
Poverty
Environment
Health
Education
Social Causes
Education
Environment
Education
Human Rights
Environment
Social Causes
Education
Health
Environment
Human Rights
Social Causes
NEARLY ALL MARKETS BELIEVE FAMILY-OWNED BUSINESSES HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TOWARD
THE ENVIRONMENT
RESPONSIBILITY OF FAMILY-OWNED BUSINESSES TOWARD CAUSES BY MARKET
Q18: How responsible do you feel _______, are towards the following causes? Please use a nine-point scale where one means that you find them “not at all responsible”
and nine means that you find them “fully responsible”. NET Responsible (Top 4 Box) General Publics, 12-country global total

11. SUMMER SUPPLEMENT
BE PREPARED
11
Protect
Establish pre-emptive
systems to protect the
enterprise and family
members.
Project
Proactively and
transparently tell your
story.
Predict
Know what the
potential issues are
and manage the risk
accordingly.

12. SUMMER SUPPLEMENT
SUMMER SUPPLEMENT
On the cover, from top left: Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba: AFP; Robert Fisher, son of Gap, Inc. founder: THE CHRONICLE/Brant Ward; Thomas Rabe, CEO of Bartelsmann: GETTY IMAGES
EUROPE/Sean Gallup; Ratan Tata, founder of Tata Group; Cover of Thomas Piketty’s book Capital in the Twenty-first Centruy: HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS; Brazilian Oil and Gas Magnate
Eike Batista: REUTERS/Fred Prouser; Gautem Adani, chairman & founder of the Adani Group: THE HINDU BUSINESS LINE