Family firms aren’t typically thought of as particularly innovative. More often, they’re viewed as risk averse, traditional, and stagnant. However, many family-owned businesses are among the most innovative in their industries. Consider Herr’s Potato Chips and Enterprise Rent-A-Car. There are countless other examples of family firms that have brought innovations to market. We wanted to [...]

Shortly after Woodrow Cross founded Cross Insurance out of his family’s home in Bangor, Maine, in 1954, he sold his first insurance policy for just seven dollars. More than 60 years and nearly 115 agency acquisitions later, with roughly 800 employees and offices throughout New England, Cross remains as dedicated to the agency as he [...]

Gaylord’s oldest restaurant and one of the city’s most iconic businesses is temporarily closed after longtime owner Bob Doumas sold the Sugar Bowl and retired. As of 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 15, the Sugar Bowl, located at 216 W. Main St., closed. It has been sold to a new organization. “It’s bittersweet,” said Doumas, 86. [...]

According to legend, The Rockefeller Foundation coined the term ‘impact investing’ in 2007, putting a name to investments made with the intention of generating both financial return and social/environmental impact. Has the concept reached maturity nearly a decade later? Family offices around the world are far more active in impact investing than originally thought, with [...]

Family owned corporations are subject to the same statutory requirements regarding entity governance as non-family owned businesses. Thus, in order to fully comply with the applicable statute for the state where the business is incorporated, a family business should pay attention to all provisions that require annual or other ongoing action by the company. These [...]

Razak Dawood ’68, the chairman of Descon, a family-run power, engineering, and chemical conglomerate based in Pakistan, manages more than 14,000 multinational employees across seven countries. Dawood spoke about his own experiences and offered five crucial tips for running a successful family enterprise at Columbia Business School. Tip 1: Start in the right position: When [...]

If it snowed more than 7 inches on New Year’s Day, customers who had bought a fur, leather or other coat at Ribnick Luxury Outerwear in December would have been entitled to a full refund. Bill Ribnick, president of the Warehouse District business, wasn’t sweating the offer. He had bought an insurance policy to cover [...]

Co-written by Brian Henry, “The Hénokiens: The Families and Firms Who Made History” is a case study of 47 family businesses which have been in the same family for more than 200 years, revealing important insights into how such firms have not just survived, but prospered. Understanding assets is important to all businesses. Family businesses need to [...]