| The Lifecycle of Family Businesses
Santiago Dodero |  |
The "life cycle of the family business " is intended to explain the crises which affect the family business. This model attempts to show that family businesses are more likely to succeed if they can prepare to overcome the crises which arise from the mere fact of being a family business. ( Read more from Santiago Dodero and add comments.) |
| Keeping the Family and the Business
Alicia Graciela Stivelberg |  |
I remember a feeling: I have a multifamily textile company. I call it "The Fabric Brothers." I remember the barn, looms, cones, wires, noise of machinery. Noise is the sap mixed in with the blood of textiles which makes a very special kind of people. Those who touch the fabrics, textures, weight, quality. It's a feeling, a touch, a sensibility, that "hard life". ( Read more from Alicia Graciela Stivelberg and add comments). |
Forced Internationalization
of Venezuelan Family Businesses
Dante De Lucia |  | |
One day Juan Carlos left a meeting with a very important customer. As he was heading back to his office he was suddenly intercepted by two dark vehicles. Three heavily armed men forced him out of his SUV and placed him into one of the two cars. He was held for six weeks until a $450,000 ransom was paid to his kidnappers. ( Read more from Dante De Lucia and add comments). |
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Greetings!
ˇSaludos!
Welcome to this first edition of the Family Business Wiki Newsletter written entirely by Spanish-speaking contributors (and available in both Spanish and English). We are pleased to showcase the wisdom and insights of our Spanish-speaking colleagues, and we know that you will find this to be a "muy buena edición especial."
In addition to our "Thought Leader Blog" by Ivan Lansberg, we are also fortunate to have contributions from family business advisors and academics representing Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Spain and Venezuela.
I would like to take this opportunity to pay a special tribute to Jaume Tomŕs Sabaté -- who died recently in Barcelona. His hard work and dedication contributed greatly to the family business body of knowledge in the Spanish-speaking world.
Guillermo Salazar
Family Business Wiki Advisory Board Member
Exaudi Family Business Consulting
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 | Thought Leader Blog: Ivan Lansberg | Ruling vs. Governing: On the Dialectics of Governance
In the late 1960s, John Petersen (a pseudonym) and his brothers inherited a modest pharmaceutical business from their father. Today, it is a multibillion-dollar global company, in great measure thanks to John's relentless entrepreneurial drive. Now with 15 adult cousins in the third generation, the Petersen family has built an elaborate governance structure that includes an independent board of directors, shareholder and family assemblies, a family council, a family office and a philanthropic foundation.
While John retains his undisputed leadership as the head of the family enterprise, the brothers, the cousins and their spouses all participate actively in the governance structure, which has empowered the family to make choices that at times challenge John's priorities and wishes. Yet he also understands that when he exerts his influence arbitrarily, he perpetuates a reliance on him that may well compromise the maturation of the governance process and ultimately the continuity of the enterprise. As he put it succinctly in a recent conversation, "When should I rule and when should I govern?" ( Read more from Ivan Lansberg and add comments.) |
| Family Business Educator: Gonzalo Gómez-Betancourt | | Are All Family Businesses the Same?
Success in any business is usually determined from a financial point of view, but the reality of a family business is different because of the interrelationship between family and business. Therefore, to preserve the future of a family business it is essential to not only assure a good level of economic performance but also to keep the family united and committed to the company over the course of many years. So the challenge for a family business is: How to achieve both economic and family success? What variables should be taken into account to achieve this goal? Are all family businesses alike, and they all experience the same things, or if there are some which do better in their performance, what are the reasons?
Indeed, not all family businesses are alike. Each has special characteristics which make them different from others depending on the level of trust between family members and the trust they have for those outside of the family, and depending on their strategic direction.
Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual framework based on the factors of trust and strategic direction. This framework will allow family businesses to determine how to achieve better economic and family performance by defining typologies which make it possible to understand how and why some family businesses are more successful than others. ( Read more from Gonzalo Gómez-Betancourt and add comments.) |
| Family Business Advisor: Julia Téllez Roca
| | Japanese Bamboo
There is a philosophy of life which I fully share and that has to do with giving one's best, having a long-term vision, and sowing, planting and continuing to plant with care and patience in the certainty that our efforts will eventually bear fruit -- after a corresponding period of maturation. I have found that this approach is also vital in many family businesses, and specifically for those who remain united and committed over multiple generations. All of them act like the Japanese Bamboo. ( Read more from Julia Téllez Roca and add comments). |
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