The Importance of the Family Businesses for Fundamental Sustainable Improvements: Cases from Bulgaria, Romania, and Uzbekistan

COVID-19 restrictions on the labor force in 2020–2021 have accelerated the process of dehumanization of firms as a consequence of accelerated automation and digital transformation. Managers easily fired their employees who were not related to them in contrast to those people who were relatives. Therefore, the family becomes a lifeboat for more and more humans—a place to exist and realize new business dreams. The purpose of this chapter is to present some contributions of family businesses in terms of sustainability. The main tasks are: (1) To outline the role of intergenerational family businesses on improving sustainable regional development from a theoretical point of view. (2) To give examples of family firms in Bulgaria, Romania, and Uzbekistan, which have already reached some international markets. (3) To present some intentions about family businesses based on an international survey among students from the University of Ruse “Angel Kanchev” (Bulgaria), the University of Craiova (Romania), and the Management Development Institute of Singapore in Tashkent (Uzbekistan) in 2021 and 2023. The leading thesis is: The intergenerational family business could have an increasing role in the improvement of sustainable development in different regions. The given examples describe a better understanding of how families from different countries could face new challenges. The international comparison of the student responses would find if there are significant differences between the intentions for family businesses in these countries. This research is useful for those entrepreneurs, academics, students, and policymakers, who search for opportunities to improve local sustainable development by encouraging family businesses with the potential to reach international markets.