{"id":163,"date":"2016-03-31T11:03:56","date_gmt":"2016-03-31T11:03:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/?p=163"},"modified":"2025-12-31T09:44:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T09:44:15","slug":"succession-planning-better-late-than-never","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/2016\/03\/31\/succession-planning-better-late-than-never\/","title":{"rendered":"Succession Planning, Better Late Than Never"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Walkers Shortbread is a 118 year old Scottish manufacturer of shortbread, biscuits, cookies and crackers. The company is Scotland&#8217;s biggest exporter of food. Joseph Walker founded the Aberlour, Banffshire-based business in 1898. His grandchildren Jim Walker, 71, and his brother Joe, 78 are currently managing the firm as joint managing director.<\/p>\n<p>Although the Walker brothers have no plans to leave any time soon, they have finally started the process of succession planning with the firm\u2019s fourth generation. The brothers are preparing six of their children to take over the family business. Jim and Joe, the third generation to run Walkers, each have three children in the business. Jim\u2019s children, Jacqui, Bryony and Alastair, work in marketing, sales and exports, while Joe\u2019s children \u2013 Nicky, Richard and Philippa \u2013 are production director, technical director and brand manager respectively.<\/p>\n<p>The business now exports to over 90 countries and is among Scotland\u2019s biggest exporters of branded foods. It produces around 25,000 tons a year of shortbread, biscuits, oatcakes and cakes and employs around 1,500 people \u2013 rising to 1,700 at seasonal peaks. Turnover rose 2.7 per cent to approximately \u00a3141 million last year, although pre-tax profits fell by 25 per cent to just under \u00a311m.<\/p>\n<p><i>Source: <\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/www.heraldscotland.com\/business\/14387023.Shortbread_maker_primes_fourth_generation_to_take_the_helm\/\"><i>http:\/\/www.heraldscotland.com\/business\/14387023.Shortbread_maker_primes_fourth_generation_to_take_the_helm\/#<\/i><\/a><i><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><i>\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Walkers Shortbread is a 118 year old Scottish manufacturer of shortbread, biscuits, cookies and crackers. The company is Scotland&#8217;s biggest exporter of food. Joseph Walker founded the Aberlour, Banffshire-based business in 1898. His grandchildren Jim Walker, 71, and his brother Joe, 78 are currently managing the firm as joint managing director. Although the Walker brothers [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Succession Planning, Better Late Than Never - Thomas Schmidheiny Centre for Family Enterprise<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/2016\/03\/31\/succession-planning-better-late-than-never\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Succession Planning, Better Late Than Never - Thomas Schmidheiny Centre for Family Enterprise\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Walkers Shortbread is a 118 year old Scottish manufacturer of shortbread, biscuits, cookies and crackers. The company is Scotland&#8217;s biggest exporter of food. Joseph Walker founded the Aberlour, Banffshire-based business in 1898. His grandchildren Jim Walker, 71, and his brother Joe, 78 are currently managing the firm as joint managing director. Although the Walker brothers [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/2016\/03\/31\/succession-planning-better-late-than-never\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Thomas Schmidheiny Centre for Family Enterprise\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-03-31T11:03:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-31T09:44:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Editorial team\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Editorial team\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/2016\/03\/31\/succession-planning-better-late-than-never\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/2016\/03\/31\/succession-planning-better-late-than-never\/\",\"name\":\"Succession Planning, Better Late Than Never - Thomas Schmidheiny Centre for Family Enterprise\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-03-31T11:03:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-31T09:44:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/#\/schema\/person\/36b0b1fce0228ee6b0380926861571cc\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/2016\/03\/31\/succession-planning-better-late-than-never\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/2016\/03\/31\/succession-planning-better-late-than-never\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/2016\/03\/31\/succession-planning-better-late-than-never\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Succession Planning, Better Late Than Never\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/\",\"name\":\"Thomas Schmidheiny Centre for Family Enterprise\",\"description\":\"Creating value for families and businesses through research and innovation\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/#\/schema\/person\/36b0b1fce0228ee6b0380926861571cc\",\"name\":\"Editorial team\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20fb226145337a9ce5d93494a13b2d55?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20fb226145337a9ce5d93494a13b2d55?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Editorial team\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/author\/isb_blog_user_admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Succession Planning, Better Late Than Never - Thomas Schmidheiny Centre for Family Enterprise","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/2016\/03\/31\/succession-planning-better-late-than-never\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Succession Planning, Better Late Than Never - Thomas Schmidheiny Centre for Family Enterprise","og_description":"Walkers Shortbread is a 118 year old Scottish manufacturer of shortbread, biscuits, cookies and crackers. The company is Scotland&#8217;s biggest exporter of food. Joseph Walker founded the Aberlour, Banffshire-based business in 1898. His grandchildren Jim Walker, 71, and his brother Joe, 78 are currently managing the firm as joint managing director. Although the Walker brothers [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/2016\/03\/31\/succession-planning-better-late-than-never\/","og_site_name":"Thomas Schmidheiny Centre for Family Enterprise","article_published_time":"2016-03-31T11:03:56+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-12-31T09:44:15+00:00","author":"Editorial team","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Editorial team","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/2016\/03\/31\/succession-planning-better-late-than-never\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/2016\/03\/31\/succession-planning-better-late-than-never\/","name":"Succession Planning, Better Late Than Never - Thomas Schmidheiny Centre for Family Enterprise","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-03-31T11:03:56+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-31T09:44:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/#\/schema\/person\/36b0b1fce0228ee6b0380926861571cc"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/2016\/03\/31\/succession-planning-better-late-than-never\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/2016\/03\/31\/succession-planning-better-late-than-never\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/2016\/03\/31\/succession-planning-better-late-than-never\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Succession Planning, Better Late Than Never"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/","name":"Thomas Schmidheiny Centre for Family Enterprise","description":"Creating value for families and businesses through research and innovation","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/#\/schema\/person\/36b0b1fce0228ee6b0380926861571cc","name":"Editorial team","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20fb226145337a9ce5d93494a13b2d55?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20fb226145337a9ce5d93494a13b2d55?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Editorial team"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu"],"url":"https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/author\/isb_blog_user_admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2183,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163\/revisions\/2183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.isb.edu\/centre-for-family-enterprise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}