Petru Sandu is the founding director of the Family Business and Entrepreneurship Program and the academic liaison for the High Center for Family Business at Elizabethtown College, USA. As a tenured professor of Entrepreneurship and Management at the School of Business, he has been developing curricula and teaching classes of corporate strategy, family business, and entrepreneurship, both at undergraduate and graduate level. He has been a visiting professor in several countries. Dr. Sandu main research interests are family business professionalization, governance, succession, and intergenerational entrepreneurship that were presented at conferences in more than ten countries and published in peer reviewed journals. His teaching and research were rewarded with several awards.
He received his Ph.D. from Al. I. Cuza University, Romania, his MBA from The Ohio State University, USA, and the undergraduate degree from the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania. Before moving to the U.S., he founded a family business that is still active. In the Spring semester of 2023, Petru was a Fulbright Senior Scholar at the University of Murcia, Spain, where he was teaching and conducting a research project in Spanish.

Keynote speech – Family Business Model: Why Does It Matter?

Family business sector is the backbone of the world economy representing about 80% of firms worldwide and contributing more than 70% of global GDP and 60% of global employment. Despite their ubiquity, family firms are often misunderstood and overlooked. The purpose of this keynote presentation is to outline the tremendous role of family enterprises, the opportunities and challenges of their unique model, and the need for family business research and education. A better university education needs the wisdom of family business. However, the most popular business form in the world is actually the least taught. There is much to be learned from enterprising family businesses, and their relevance is only growing, with unmatched adaptability and resilience, stewardship, values-based culture, long-term view, and silent philanthropy. The presentation includes a five-minute video on family business significance created by student assistant, Ava Barton, as part of a family business project.