Cases for Clients
Family business cases can serve as powerful tools to integrate into consulting and educational work with clients. Cases provide an engaging way for family enterprise members to recognize issues similar to the ones they face, helping evaluate potential, less emotionally-charged solutions. To further this publication’s mission to provide readers with practical materials that support their work with multi-generational family enterprises, we are pleased to feature a selection of family business cases previously published in FFI Practitioner.
The Roles Past, Present, and Future of the Family Office Executive
This week’s FFI Practitioner edition addresses a topic of importance in the field of family enterprise – the family office. In addition to an article examining the history of the role of a family office executive by Annischka Holmes-Moncur, we are pleased to share four global perspectives on this topic as published earlier in FFI Practitioner.
When a Three-Legged Relay Race Replaces Passing the Baton
Thanks to Gaia Marchisio for this week’s article which discusses the importance of recognizing and addressing strong beliefs about “universal truths” and misconceptions in the field of family enterprise. In this article, Gaia urges advisers to avoid becoming too narrow-minded and entrenched in an established way of thinking. Instead, she encourages advisers to maintain an outsider’s perspective on conventional family business truths that are often taken for granted.
When the Chairman is Wrong
As an adviser, what can you do when the owner/CEO who hires you is wrong? According to Bruce Walton in this week’s edition, an objective board of directors can serve as a valuable ally to confront a misguided CEO and to get the company moving in the right direction. To illustrate his point, Bruce shares some anecdotes of how a board can help in these tricky situations.
Conversation-Starting Articles to Share with your Clients
One of the primary goals of FFI Practitioner is to provide readers with thought-provoking and practical articles to improve the services they offer to their family enterprise clients and the field in general. To further this mission, this week, we are pleased to feature a selection of articles addressing common topics, across disciplines, that can be used as examples or conversation starters with clients.
Managing Wealth as a Business: A Family Office – to be or not to be?
When should a family begin to think about forming a family office and what factors should they consider when making this decision? Thank you to Iñigo Susaeta, this week’s contributor for continuing FFI Practitioner’s series of articles written in both English and Spanish by members of the FFI IberoAmerican Virtual Study Group.
Mid-Autumn Festival: Lessons for family businesses
We hope you’ve been enjoying the month-long FFI Practitioner series dedicated to the theme of “Reflections,” which concludes this week with a piece by Paul Chung and Chin Chin Koh. In this article, the contributors reflect on the ancient Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival and explore its parallels to family enterprise.
Reflections on the Study of 100-Year Family Enterprises: An interview with Dennis Jaffe
The month-long FFI Practitioner series dedicated to the theme of “Reflections” continues this week with a very special interview with Dennis Jaffe, author of the recent working paper titled, “Resilience of 100-Year Family Enterprises: How Opportunistic Innovation, Business Discipline, and a Culture of Stewardship Guide the Journey Across Generations.” In this interview, hosted by Russ Haworth, Dennis reflects on some of the key takeaways from his study of nearly one hundred successful family enterprises.
Governance: Family or Business First?
This week’s FFI Practitioner continues our series of articles written in both English and Spanish by members of the FFI IberoAmercian Virtual Study Group. Thank you to Ricardo Mejia for sharing this case study about a client who encountered an important governance dilemma – should they focus on developing their corporate governance or family governance first?
The Exercise of Power in the Family Business
This week’s FFI Practitioner continues a series of articles written by members of the FFI IberoAmerican Virtual Study Group that are available in both English and Spanish. Thanks to Miguel Angel Gallo and Begoña Pereira-Otero for their examination of what constitutes an appropriate exercise of power by family business owners. We hope you enjoy this article in either (or both) languages!
Investor Relations Jiu Jitsu in Family-Owned Business
In this week’s FFI Practitioner, Bruce Walton of Battalia Winston addresses the question of how Investor Relations differ in family-owned businesses. His conclusions, based on interviews with accomplished governance leaders, fall into three common themes – communicate, educate, and “mechanate.”
The Future of the Three-Circle Model: A conversation between Pramodita Sharma and John Davis
This week’s FFI Practitioner concludes our two-part series commemorating the 40th anniversary of the influential Three-Circle Model. Thank you to FFI Fellows Pramodita Sharma and John Davis for sharing their insightful conversation about future the future of the model, research, and the field.
Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Three-Circle Model: An interview with John Davis
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the legendary Three-Circle Model, FFI Practitioner is excited to share two editions about the model during the month of June. For the first edition, we’d like to thank Pramodita Sharma for her interview about the inception and impact of the model on the field with one of its two creators, John Davis.
Lessons on Governance: Pruning the Tree or Inclusion
For family businesses, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to governance and advisers need to understand each family’s unique values and ownership philosophies before attempting to implement specific governance structures. Thanks to Marta Widz and Benoît Leleux from IMD for illustrating this point by sharing two cases where the family businesses have divergent ownership philosophies but have both excelled in their governance practices.
Perceived Self-Interest in the Family Business: An interview with Kirsten Taylor-Martin
For this week’s FFI Practitioner, we are excited to share an interview with Kirsten Taylor-Martin about a major piece of research recently conducted by Grant Thornton. The interview, which includes useful tips and insights for advisers working with next gen family members, was actually conducted by a next gen member of Kirsten’s family - her daughter, Angelina Martin!
Research Applied: FBR Précis for FFI Practitioner
Thanks to Alberto Gimeno of the FBR Research Applied Board for his thoughtful précis of “Family Constitution and Business Performance: Moderating Factors” – an article that appears in the December 2017 issue of FBR.
Best Candidates Expect Best Practices
When family businesses recruit outside executives, “A-level” candidates expect best practices within company governance and the search process.
A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with a Single Step: Learning from 100 year family enterprises
This issue is a précis of an August 2013 research paper by Dennis Jaffe entitled “Good Fortune: Building a Hundred Year Family Enterprise.” It includes a summary of some counterintuitive results as well as helpful suggestions for practitioners.
Structure and Integration: The Architecture of Succession
This week’s edition of The Practitioner addresses the transitions involved in family enterprise succession and describes how two structural techniques often employed in family enterprise.
Best Practices for Family Owner Governance? Research Provided and Opinions Wanted!
This issue of The Practitioner features a blog, based on an article, based on an upcoming book – all on the topic of Family Owner Governance.