Financial resilience of Moroccan family firms in times of crisis

Abstract

This research study examines the financial resilience of family-owned firms compared to non-family-owned firms listed on the Casablanca Stock Exchange during the 2017–2022 period, incorporating the impact of the COVID-19 health crisis (2020–2021) as a major exogenous shock. Based on a panel dataset covering 67 firms (32 family-owned and 35 non-family-owned) across 401 firm-year observations, we employ fixed-effects regressions, supplemented by Student’s t-tests, to compare performance across groups and over time. The results show that family-owned firms demonstrated greater resilience to the decline in profitability (ROE, ROA) during the crisis, with an average ROA resilience index of 1.042 compared to 0.921 for non-family-owned firms. The family × crisis interaction term is positive and statistically significant, suggesting that family governance moderates performance during times of turmoil. Family-owned firms’ financial leverage was found to be higher during periods of crisis, reflecting an increased reliance on external financing to weather the shock. These results enrich the literature on resource theory and family governance in emerging markets and provide policymakers and investors with empirical evidence to tailor business support policies according to a company’s ownership structure.