Abstract
Small rms are a major player in development. Thus, entrepreneurship is frequently attached to these firms and it must be present in daily management of factors such as planning and cooperation. We intend to analyze these factors, comparing familiar and non-familiar businesses. This study was conducted in a Portuguese region in the north of Portugal - Vale do Sousa. The results allow us to conclude that even with some managerial differences it was not possible to identify distinct patterns between them. The main goal of this paper is to open research lines on important issues to distinguish familiar from non-familiar businesses.