The Core of the Issue

FFI research rocks! There’s simply no better way to characterize the cutting edge academic reportswe’ve been bringing our global members for years–most pointedly through our flagship scholarly journal,Family Business Review. Since 1988, FBR has provided multidisciplinary research on critical matters facing family enterprises—from workplace conflict resolution, to intergenerational business transfer, to trust and estate planning issues. Bear in mind: the family enterprise discipline is still in its relatively nascent stages, and the academic community has a lot to puzzle its way through. But based on the consistently high quality reports we’ve seen, there’s a wealth of great information out there.

That said, The Practitioner knows there just aren’t enough hours in the dayto check every item off of your to-do list (I can feel you nodding in agreement), so no matter how compelling our research reports may be, it’s often impractical to read through them all–cover to cover.

Enter Karen Vinton: FBR assistant editor, who for years has been graciously providing her own value add, by issuing recap reports, in which she distills sometimes 20-plus page research studies, down to their core findings. This is a big help to advisors looking to expedite their due diligence efforts, and if Karen’s recaps provoke a desire to learn more, you can easily link to the entire study with a simple mouse click. Now that’s what I call concierge service!

To see what I’m talking about, check out a trio of Karen’s FBR summaries—which she kindly condensed into a single document—replete with links to the source studies, entitled “From Longevity of Firms to Transgenerational Entrepreneurship of Families: Introducing Family Entrepreneurial Orientation,” “The Role of Selected Team Design Elements in Successful Sibling Teams,” and “Faster Route to the CEO Suite: Nepotism or Managerial Proficiency?” Feel free to delve into these reports as deeply or as perfunctorily as you like. After all, the better you are at time management, the more efficient you’ll be at serving your clients. And if THAT isn’t a successful end goal to strive for, I don’t know what is.

 

 

 

 

About the Contributor
Karen L. Vinton Ph.D. is a 1999 Barbara Hollander Award winner and Professor Emeritus of Business at the College of Business at Montana State University, where she founded the University’s Family Business Program. An FFI Fellow, she has served on its Board of Directors and chaired the Body of Knowledge committee. From 1997 through 2011, Vinton served on the editorial board of the Family Business Review, and is the current assistant editor. Before retiring, Vinton served as director for her own family’s business (negotiating its eventual sale) and had her own family business consulting practice, Vinton Consulting Services. Karen can be reached at [email protected].

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Stay tuned next week for Harry McCabe’s article entitled: “Simple Enough? Implementing a Smooth Client Relation to Reduce Friction.”