The rumours that swirled around the American east coast city of Baltimore in 1895 were grossly inaccurate. The word on the street was that the Loane family business had shut. So Javez Loane, who at the time ran the business that made sails, window awnings, tents, flags and wagon covers, distributed a flyer to set [...]
A 2011 report estimated that around 80 percent of China’s private companies were family-run. If we define family enterprises as any enterprise where the founder or their family holds more than 50 percent of the shares, then they probably number in the millions. In the early days of the reform and opening-up era, a shortage [...]
The 120 years old Godrej Group has emerged as an icon among family businesses in India, not only for its economic achievements but also for its relentless focus on achieving excellence in corporate governance. In an interview with Sougata Ray, Professor of Strategy, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, and Visiting Scholar, Thomas Schmidheiny Centre for [...]
Ziad Salloum and his father Samir are both lawyers with expertise ranging from “day to day stuff” as Salloum Jr puts it (acquisitions, contracts, sales), to managing a business handover from one generation to next—a process arguably more about personalities than professionalism. Established in 1980 by Samir, Salloum & Partners LLC (formerly the Law Offices [...]
Hilti Corporation is a global company that has been consistently rated as one of the best for people practices, by Fortune and the Sunday Times. Professor Kavil Ramachandran, Executive Director of the Thomas Schmidheiny Centre for Family Enterprise, Indian School of Business, in a freewheeling discussion with Prof Dr Pius Baschera of the Hilti Corporation [...]
China has a problem with family businesses: a sizeable number are preparing to hand over control to the next generation. However — in a development that some say will hurt and others think might help the world’s second-biggest economy — some may not stay in business at all. More than half of the children of [...]
Providing financial advice to a family running a business is complex, according to a Europe-wide study that highlighted challenges around growing a business and managing its wealth across generations. This important advisory market segment is increasingly being impacted by a ‘war for talent’, according to the European Family Businesses (EFB) and KPMG Enterprise European Family [...]
A significant minority of highly successful business-owning families excel and thrive through several generations: Miele, Follett, Takanashi, Henkel, and many more. These families have much to teach us: not only on governance, strategy and business management, but also social and environmental responsibility and economic development. So what are the features of family firms with sustained [...]
A family business run through a limited company will typically be financed in its early stages by a mixture of equity (via money invested in shares), and/or loans from the family shareholders and possibly by an overdraft facility with its bankers. As the business develops, however, the family may need to consider the possibility of [...]
A family business has many challenges as it grows and corporate governance is often pushed to the back burner as more urgent, not necessarily important, day to day activities and expansion concerns take up the owner managers’ time. The board is the most significant instrument of corporate governance. Once in place, it would improve the [...]