For years, succession has been viewed as the primary hurdle in family businesses. But today, many business families face a different challenge. The issue is no longer finding talent—inside or outside the family—but managing the growth of the family itself. As generations advance, the family often grows at a faster pace than the business. What starts […]
Family council: preventative medicine or surgical intervention?
If we were to apply medical terminology to the realm of family-owned firms, our first observation would be that all families run the risk of contracting “diseases” and sustaining “injuries.” When the family also owns a business, however, these risks are substantially higher. No business family is “immune” to these risks, which when left unchecked, […]
Digitalize your company by digitalizing your board
How is digitalization impacting our customers’ habits and behaviors? How will they interact with our products and services in 10 years’ time? How “digitally mature” is our sector? How are our competitors applying technology? What percentage of our revenues and margin could we lose over the next five years if we do nothing? What investments […]
New times, same purpose
This is my first-ever blog post and it couldn’t be in a more ideal setting: IESE’s Family-Owned Business Blog, which today enters a new phase as Josep Tàpies advanced last week in his post. From now on, this blog will be a group effort, with contributions from every member of IESE’s Chair of Family-Owned Business’ […]