This paper explores if there is a relation between governance boards in small and medium sized family firms and performance indicators of the firm. A governance board can be either a supervisory or an advisory board, this in line with the two tier governance structure that is used in the Netherlands. The resource based view is used to discuss the possible valuable resources of family SMEs and the way governance boards can influence these resources. Three functions of boards are distinguished: monitoring, resource and strategy. Especially the last two could be valuable for family SMEs. Hypotheses were tested on a sample of 370 Dutch family SMEs.
Our results show that governance boards effects the existence of written strategic plans and the expected marketability of the firm. The data did not confirm a relation between a governance boards and expected short term sales growth.