Thinking about the subject, in some cases, a little bit of cronyism/corruption can be beneficial.

I put it this way, a lot of people end up being groomed by their parents to follow in a similar path, this means they have a lot of experience in the field/area, and perhaps have contacts and influence someone completely from the outside might have.

So lets say Person A works at your company. He is a hardworker, worked there a long time, he is loyal and you get on with him. Whilst casually talking over a few years, you learn that the son has a deep interest in the same line of work as his father, he visited for his school's work experience, going through University and coming away with a good degree. You have a job opportunity coming up for an apprentice position, you let the father know. In the end, it boils down to three candidates, all pretty equal, except one of them is this fathers son and the other two are complete outsiders. Who would you think would be best for the company?