Truth be told, implementing and managing a board of directors in a family firm isn’t an easy task for a variety of reasons, including the unique nature of each family and company and its specific context and growth stage. Through my years of experience working with family firms, I have gathered several practical insights to […]
Design, management and dynamics of successful strategic alliances
Guest contributor: África Ariño Professor of Strategic Management · Holder of the Joaquim Molins Figueras Chair of Strategic Alliances · IESE As explored in the first article in this series on the conclusions drawn at the Family Business Reflection Forum, strategic alliances enable two or more companies to share resources and capabilities to either undertake […]
An analysis of family firms and their impact on diverse stakeholders
Family businesses are economic motors and drivers of social cohesion around the world, which is why it’s important to better understand their impact on diverse stakeholder groups. To learn more, I encourage you to read the new white paper “Vínculos profundos: un análisis riguroso sobre las relaciones entre las empresas familiares y sus stakeholders” (Deep […]
Women in family business
Around the world, women are increasingly taking charge of their family businesses and reaching breakthrough levels of success. In many cases, they are the first generation of women to take the reins from older male relatives. With International Women’s Day around the corner, this New York Times article about daughters of family vineyards is especially […]
The role of an external director
In my last article published in October 2023, I raised the issue of external directors by saying they could either be independent or not. It’s not a question of how much they’re paid, as some people think: it’s far more complex and multidimensional than that. Let’s start by clarifying these two concepts. External versus independent […]
Trust and communication, the keys to higher productivity
Declining productivity is a constant concern for both governments and companies, especially small- and medium-sized ones. And it’s no wonder: private enterprises generate over 80% of jobs in developed countries, and 90% in developing economies. Many employers wonder if hybrid work formats are to blame for this decline, or at least struggle to define effective […]
Gender wage gap: fixing the ladder’s broken rung
Numerous studies blame gender-based job segregation for the stubborn gender wage gap. However, women who do the same work as men in the same company are still not paid the same as their male counterparts. This El País article highlights the findings of my rececent study with Prof. Isabel Villamor on the primary drivers of […]
Pension priorities: the impact of family ties on ethical decision making
With corporate responsibility gaining traction around the world, more and more business leaders are considering the ethical dimensions of management. Among global scholars, pension funding is one of the hot-button topics under review. Employee pension schemes are common in the U.S. and might soon expand in Europe, where governments are considering hybrid models to solve […]
A conversation with Ibukun Awosika
I recently had the great honor of interviewing Ibukun Awosika for IESE’s This Is Real Leadership podcast. Ibukun Awosika has had a long and illustrious career as an entrepreneur, leader, speaker, former president of First Bank of Nigeria and author of several books, including The Girl Entrepreneur. In this episode, we discuss authentic leadership, decision-making […]
8 pillars of a professional board of directors
Robust corporate governance systems in family firms shouldn’t be any different than those in well-managed non-family firms – at least in theory. In practice, it’s another story. Boards of directors in family businesses have adjacent psychological and psychosocial dimensions, and disregarding these dynamics can easily lead to tensions among board members. During my tenure as […]
