[eng] This thesis is intended to provide an overview of the corporate structure and special characteristics of family enterprises compared to non-family enterprises. Family enterprises can be characterized by the fact that one or more enterprise families exert a significant influence on the enterprise and participate in the business (Klein, 2004). They come in a wide variety of sizes andorganisational forms, from small medium-sized enterprises to multinational corporations. The German tourism landscape is enormously shaped by small and medium-sized enterprises, which are largely run by families. In addition to the numerous advantages of family-run businesses, there are also disadvantages and risks. Probably one of the greatest challenges for family businesses is succession planning, which is an entrepreneurial task that not only affects the basic questions of entrepreneurial but also personal existence. In order to better explain and deepen the topic of family businesses, the family business "Der Grosch" was used as an example and compared with the object of the study.