Familial and Territorial Values for Sustainable Entrepreneurship in Italy: Some Reflections in Theory and Practice

This study reflects the specificities of family small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) which are related to values, culture, and relationships with the territory (local context). In the following sustainable and corporate social responsibility (CSR)-oriented strategies, family businesses are “assisted” by the presence of entrepreneurial values which are tied to and derived from the social system in the territory in which they are located. The aim of this study is to demonstrate that the consolidation of stable and durable relations between the family business and the local context depends on the presence of shared values between the members of the family and the stakeholders, all components of civil society are within the same territory. Such values are the fruit of a given territory’s civic traditions. They are the result of an anthropological culture which is typical of the socioeconomic environment in which the entrepreneur, the family, and the business are all rooted, thus, they are expressions of a culture “of the place”.