Family businesses come in all shapes and sizes. These can be inherited businesses or new businesses started by siblings, spouses and relatives. Family businesses, as well as other small businesses, are important for the development and growth of the economy. The aim of the work is to investigate and explain family entrepreneurship, their advantages and disadvantages and their impact on society and the economy. The work is structured in such a way that in the first chapters it explains the concept of family entrepreneurship, inheritance, the family business cycle and its strengths and weaknesses. The paper will also show the impact and significance of family entrepreneurship and their companies on the economy and the community in which they are located and the future of family entrepreneurship. The paper also presents two examples of successful family entrepreneurship, one of which is a well-known European group and a Croatian company with a centuries-old tradition. The conclusion of the paper brings the conclusion that the author reached during the writing of the paper. The work shows the importance of tradition and inheritance in family business and what makes a family business successful and what is important for it to be successful.