When the going gets tough and families are feuding, fairness is always an issue—and usually, it’s about more than just money. Managing family-owned enterprises and managing family wealth is no easy feat. Family businesses sometimes struggle to define fairness among family members. Why is it so hard to define fairness?
This week the Family Business Office, for its nineteenth edition of Focus On World Family Business Leaders, brings you Dr Wolfram Freudenberg, fifth generation heir of the very diversified multinational family business of Freudenberg Group.
When two or more next-generation members are working in the family enterprise, it is normal for them to be assigned to different functional areas of the business.
This week Family Business Office, for its eighteenth edition of Focus On World Family Business Leaders , brings you Marie Christine Coquette, fifth generation heir and chairperson of Sonepar and Colam Entreprendre , the worldwide family business leader of electrical equipment.
We often hear comments from the Next Generation family business members of an enterprising family that indicate they do not see opportunities to engage: “no one cares what we think, no one listens to me, they do not think I know enough to contribute.” Leading Generation members of those same family businesses may say: “the Next Gens just aren’t stepping up like we hoped.”
This week Family Business Office, for its seventeenth edition of Focus On World Family Business Leaders , brings you Simone Bagel Trah , third generation and Chairwoman of the family business Henkel Group.
It is a known fact that fewer than 30% of successful family businesses make it to the third generation, and fewer than 15% make it through that generation. Growing complexity can complicate family relationships and become a barrier to the long-term sustainability of the business.
This week the Family Business Office, for its sixteenth edition of Focus On World Business Leaders , brings you August Oetker. The Dr Oetker Family Business is now approaching its fifth generation , proof that family businesses can survive the test of time.
Is the right successor to be sourced externally or internally in a family business ? That is the debate many a family business deals with.
This week Family Business Office, for its fifteenth edition of Focus On World Business Leaders , brings you Andrew C Taylor, Executive Chairman at Enterprise Holdings Inc , a world leader in the car rental industry.
Power and control impact family businesses, just like any other enterprise. What makes the inevitable power and control struggles even more complex in a family business are the family dynamics that play a significant role in decision-making and succession planning.
This week Family Business Office, for its fourteenth edition of Focus On World Business Leaders , brings you Emma Marcegaglia, Chief Executive at World Business Leader in production of steel tubes business and second generation business.
Succession planning processes involve an organisation developing a strategy for onboarding and training staff to ensure that when a person carrying an important role leaves the business, there is a suitable replacement.
This week Family Business Office, for its thirteenth edition of Focus On World Business Leaders brings you Ratan Tata, an Indian industrialist, philanthropist, and a former chairman of third generation Tata Sons.
Family meetings have traditionally been low-tech/high-touch environments where family members would come together in conference rooms or inspiring spaces and where devices were encouraged to be checked at the door. Covid-19 has, at least temporarily, changed all that.
This week Family Business Office for its twelfth edition of Focus On World Business Leaders brings you Nick Hayek, CEO of the world acclaimed Swatch Group, now in its second generation following on from inheriting from his father Nicholas G Hayek.
While taking a leadership position in addressing environmental challenges may be seen by some as a “moral imperative,” the economic opportunity lies in developing products and services that are both environmentally sustainable and profitable.
This week the Family Business Office, for its eleventh edition of Focus On World Business Leaders, brings you Charlene de Carvalho Heineken, executive director and fourth generation heir of the world acclaimed Heineken Brewery.
Whoever sits around the boardroom table of a family business wields tremendous influence on the performance and continuity of that family business.
Overlapping roles in family businesses – like father and CEO – are always tricky to manage. But when dads (or moms) allow the family want rather than the business need to guide compensation levels, they create a non-sustainable process that often hamstrings the next generation’s independence and objectivity.
Most family businesses start with an informal board that may be comprised of all family owners and perhaps a few key non-family executives. While this form provides a way to update owners on key matters impacting the company, it is rarely the right group of stakeholders to bring the depth of insight, oversight and objectivity that is most valuable from a more formalized board of directors.
This week the Family Business Office, for its tenth edition of ‘Focus On World Business Leaders’ brings you Giovanni Ferrero, second generation CEO of the well know brand Ferrero.
This week the Family Business Office looks at a different take on governing the family business. Typically, the low hanging fruit in terms of creating the most harmonious decision-making group is simply to seek out like-minded individuals. And why not?
This week the Family Business Office, for its eight edition of Focus On World Business Leaders, brings you Rocco Forte, the brains and chairman of the luxury brand hotels Rocco Forte Collection.
Managing a family business is no easy feat. All family members want to be seen as vitally important to the business but how does one maintain the all important ingredient of harmony in order to ensure the plain sailing operation of a family business?
This week Family Business Office, for its seventh edition of Focus On ‘World Business Leaders’ brings you Amancio Ortega, founding chairman of the Spanish clothing merchandiser Inditex, mainly responsible for the very popular brand ‘Zara’.
One of the most important tools family business owners need, to ensure their business is well run, is not what you might think.
Even families with well-established professional boards that include capable independent directors, good board processes and value-added meetings will run into challenges around the role of the family with the board of directors.
Clearly, the process of succession is not a one time event, whereby the decision of the next leader and/or successor is chosen as a reactive measure. A degree of proactive processes and thinking need to take place for the transition to be a seamless one.
This week the Family Business Office, for its fifth edition of Focus On World Business Leaders, brings you Juan Roig , executive chairman, and the second-generation heir, of Spanish supermarkets chain Mercadona.
The benefits to a family business of having a board of directors are indisputable.
This week Family Business Office for its sixth edition of Focus On World Business Leaders brings you Vitalie Taittinger, president of the eponymously named champagne house, and fourth generation heir.
It’s hardly an exaggeration to consider the successful transition of ownership and leadership from one generation to the next as two family business miracles.
In 1946, Estée and Joseph Lauder founded Estée Lauder Cosmetics. By 1960, after years of hard work and ingenuity, the Lauders were on their way — from a mom-and-pop operation to becoming one of the most influential names in the beauty industry.
This week Family Business Office for its third edition of Focus On World Business Leaders brings you Guido Barilla , chairman of Barilla, and the fourth-generation heir to the pasta fortune that he shares with his three billionaire siblings.
Legacy is not what we are doing for ourselves but what we are doing for our next generation.
This week we take a look at John Elkann , chairman and CEO of Exor, the holding company of Italy’s Agnelli family, which owns stakes in Ferrari and Italian automaker Fiat amongst other business interests.
Family-owned businesses are employers of millions of individuals globally, generators of sizable streams of tax revenue, and financial and social anchors for many communities.
ALEX DUMAS , SIXTH GENERATION CEO OF THE WORLD ACCLAIMED HERMES PARIS.
Navigating complex relationships and understanding unwritten processes are among the many challenges of transitioning a family-owned business to the next generation.
In a special report conducted by EY in collaboration with Kennesaw State University titled ‘Women in Leadership – The Family Business Advantage’, light is shed on the importance of women in a leadership role in family businesses. Hereunder a summary of findings from said report which makes for an interesting read.
Choosing the right family and corporate governance structure is closely linked to how strongly the family members identify with the business and is one of the keys to long-term success for many of these firms.
The unprecedented, tumultuous events of the past excess of one year have presented family businesses with enormous challenges. Family businesses, by their very nature, are resilient, amid the crisis, have proven their metal.
It is with great sadness that earlier last week , the death was announced of Founder and Honorary President of the European Family Business Office, Mr Mariano Puig, who passed away aged 93.
On Tuesday 2 February 2021 and for our fourth session of a series of webinars organized by the European Family Business Office, it was Mr Jesus Casado, Secretary General, European Family Business’
On Tuesday 26 January 2021 Dr Rania Labaki took center stage during the third seminar organized by the European Family Business Office as part of the SPRING Erasmus+ Knowledge Alliances project.
Despite the impact left by the pandemic, no business registered with The Family Business Office, has officially declared it had to close down due to the repercussions of COVID-19.
Acknowledging the past and building the future : how shared values can help in succeeding in the post Covid World by Mr Colin Donaldson in collaboration with the European Family Business Office as part of the SPRING Erasmus+ Knowledge Alliances project.
Family businesses and business owners need to position themselves to be net contributors to the COVID-19 recovery effort. It is natural that business owners want to be part of the solution and see an opportunity to shape the post-COVID world.
The Family Business Office pledged the Family Business Office’s support through the incentives it offers, in these trying times that came upon most businesses like a storm out of nowhere.Despite the massive disruptions being caused, we are optimistic Malta will be able to come through
In terms of the Family Business Act, a Family Business is defined as a business which is managed by at least two members within the same family, none of whom hold more than eighty percent of the issued share capital in the company.
The first quarter of 2020 was not an easy one for any of us. The Covid-19 pandemic was unexpected and none of us were prepared for the measures we had to take to safeguard our health and that of our loved ones. As a nation we have however stood up.
For most of us, at the moment, it is difficult to speak about anything else other than COVID-19, the effect it is having on our daily lives and the toll it is taking on our businesses, livelihood and the country’s economy.
Whether it’s the crown, the baton or the family business, passing it on smoothly is the key to assuring that the next generation is not put off tackling succession and take over of the family business.
Pythagoras said that numbers rule the universe and whilst family businesses will be the first to attest the importance of keeping tabs of numbers and figures we’d like to share with you some of our own numbers accumulate during the last year and hope to be able to provide even stronger numbers next year.
New Year resolutions are typically associated with personal development and achievement. Albeit we typically and stoically look into losing weight, cutting down on alcohol or cigarettes, increasing our level of fitness or pinning our goals to buckets lists and targets.
As all parents can attest the soft and hard skills of running a business and a household are similar and yet so far apart. Merging both whereby your children and family members move to take on the additional of being your nearest and dearest to becoming your employees, eventually your colleagues and in the end, the boss is a transition on many levels for all the family members that requires quite a separation of powers and mentalities.
There comes a time in our life when for many people they hope to plan for a family and dream and work towards having children and raising them. We hope to guide and steer our children in the challenges of life and all that society requires to raise healthy, balanced adults.
An estimated 80 percent of the local business world is made up of family businesses – making them a very important part of the island’s economy and success story. Here Jo Caruana takes a look at the unique challenges – and opportunities – posed by this very particular business demographic.
Succession planning is smart business planning. It allows you to proactively develop people, rather than simply name them as replacements. Succession planning is about making sure your business can continue to grow and move forward.
If one looks at the history and economy of Malta, one will find it has been a very family oriented society with family businesses being part of the economy in an important way. Mostly with property but also changing according to the times the way the economy developed.
Financial planning is a process, not a product. It is the long-term method of wisely managing your finances so you can achieve your goals and dreams, while at the same time negotiating the financial barriers that inevitably arise in every stage of life of a family business.
Regardless of how small or large the size of a family business, succession planning for family enterprises presents a unique set of challenges. Not only can it be a complicated, emotionally-taxing process, but it also carries the potential to detrimentally affect family relationships, which can strain the business itself—often to the breaking point.
Phone calls. Emails. Text messages. Conference calls. Meetings. Video conferences. We are in constant communication, and yet so often we fail to effectively communicate. the proximity especially because of family members.
If a family business is intent on surviving with growth and stability and intends to pass the business to future generations it requires the ability to develop a defined strategy coupled with the flexibility to deal with emerging issues that will arise in this ever-changing and dynamic environment.
It is clear that family businesses are a major player in society, a large employer, and an economic force. They remain the bedrock of the Maltese economy and are vital to its success.
A successful business transfer takes place when “the skills and the desire to be in business” are transferred from one generation to the next (Shrapnel, 2014, p.7). In light of the increasing number of family members with each new generation, each having different expectations, family wealth can be easily squandered, unless managed properly. This would mean that the hard work of past generations is lost.
Transference of interests in family businesses is an inevitable path such businesses must cross. It is a challenging time for such businesses as family relations converge with business interests with the result that family members must strive to keep a balance on both fronts for the continued success of the family relations and business interests.
Over the past few months, the Malta Employers’ Association has organised a number of outreach initiatives which have been well received by employers.
An important part of the planning lies in bringing together the wishes of the patriarch and the aspirations of the next generation.
Succession Planning may be one of the most challenging experiences facing any Family Business owner, so it is crucial to get it right. For a Family-owned business, a solid succession plan can drive the growth of the business, manage taxes and set the stage for retirement. Succession Planning is a multidisciplinary process.
Dr Chris Cardona, explains how this scheme will not only benefit local family businesses but also our economy. This act will give guidance to how a family business should regulate itself, benefitting from these new incentives, and restructures itself, in order to prepare for the eventual transfer and succession of the business when the moment comes.
To travel on a journey with others requires a mutual respect and understanding. A preplanning dialogue seeks to generate a relationship that will be the foundation of positive communication, growth, and agreed upon direction. If there is agreement that the relationship is a good fit, a proposal would be developed outlining the process, timeline, and milestones. There is no one size fits all prescription for families or organizations; what is required is the ability to ask the difficult questions and raise the issues that are sensitive, yet must be discussed.