Family Businesses

Over time I have had the opportunity to consult for many family businesses and have found them an interesting lot, especially when it is time for the second generation to take over.

These businesses often face huge challenges and, as a result, many simply do not survive.

First is a control issue. The founder, no matter what his (usually a “he”) age simply will not let go; does not accept that there is anyone else who can make good decisions; and cannot understand that there could be any way of running the business other than how he ran it for decades. In short, he meddles and does not let the next generation spread their wings.

Second is a succession issue. In some cases no one in the family is interested in the business, and one child or another is pressured into taking over the company. In other cases more than one of the second generation siblings are involved with the business and no clear leader has been selected, leading to fighting, resentment, and poor management. Lack of a succession plan can be especially traumatic to a business when the founder suddenly dies, but can be devastating to both the family and the business even when the founder starts receding from the day-to-day operation of the company.

Successful transitions come about from thoughtful advance succession planning, grooming of the heir apparent, and then passing control to the new CEO at the appropriate time. Can family squabbles be eliminated? Not always. When multiple children are involved, the founder needs to make every effort to be fair to all of them. Only one can be selected to run the business, and the selection should be made as objectively as possible, sometimes with outside help and evaluation. The founder needs to explain to the family why and how the decision was reached, and at the same time offer cash, stock, or appropriate positions to the other family members.

In some cases the best succession plan is to sell the business and to provide each child a proportional share of the proceeds in the form of cash, trusts, or inheritance. As with any succession plan, such action needs to be planned years in advance to maximize the value of the sale.

Careful succession planning and transitioning is good for both the family and the business. And that should be important to the founder, as both family and business are the legacies he is leaving the world.

Lack of planning and inability of the founder to let go most often tears up the family and destroys the business.

If you run a family business, which option do you prefer?

The Return of the Family Business

I was talking with a friend last week about the proliferation of small businesses as more and more people are losing their jobs from large corporations. The millions of small businesses, including about twenty million operated from home, will only increase during the coming years.

My friend observed that the concept of large business is a very recent one spawned by the industrial revolution. Prior to the mid-nineteenth century, most businesses were family owned and operated – as either farms or as small shops. During past decades small shops have had a negative connotation as “mom and pop” stores.

Fortunate, the stigma of such micro businesses is gone. Even home-based businesses which, for years were not taken seriously, are now mainstream. While most new home-based businesses are started by one member of a family, they often draw in a spouse or children – who do bookkeeping, design the business web site, help produce merchandise, prepare mailings and much more.

While big-business will never disappear, small businesses have retaken their rightful place in our economy and hearts.