The term "family office" has become increasingly popular among the public in recent years, especially in business publications. The same people still have only a vague idea of what lies behind this term. There is a certain parallel with "private equity", which hardly anyone in Germany knew until Franz Müntefering's legendary speech at the marketplace in Hemer in 2004, and whose parable of the locusts then led to the most adventurous ideas in the minds of the public.

Prof. Nadine Kammerlander and her team from the Institute for Family Business at WHU have, for the first time in the German-speaking world, shed light on terminology, scale and behavior with their study on family offices (FO), family equity (FE) and private equity (PE). It is equally welcome that FYB 2020 is dedicated to the topic of family offices.