141 2015 By Domingos Ricca, specialized consultant in family business The most important person in a family business is without question the founder. The founder is an example to be followed by the family. He or she knows everything about the company and knows the best every business problem. The founder sets up a company from a personal dream and reaches the end of his life finding some difficulty to share his values and dreams with the second generation. Some entrepreneurs get frustrated for failing to bring their dream and projects to their heirs. This way, the transition between two generations will not offer continuity as idealized by the founder. The second generation dream must be a result of the heirs’ life trajectory, based on family’s values. Therefore, the one in charge of running the family should hold the values that the second generation learned with first. However, a son’s dream is not always compatible with his father’s dream. The son who takes the lead of the company should clearly represent the family’s values, which usually are: hard work, commitment to business success, willingness to serve the customer, and family members’ trust. Stability and harmony in family relationships and its intersection of interests in the long run are essential to strike a balance between individual objectives and company’s objectives. The founder is responsible for developing a stable and coherent ideology. This is the foundation for building a solid hierarchy of values that will guide future generations. The second generation faces the danger of developing a business whose culture clashes with the one implemented by the founder, in other words: murky objectives, divided loyalty and motivation based on money. Heredity itself is not good reason to take part in a family business, common values come first. The second major factor is the affinity between the corporate manager role profile and the professional’s profile who will take such position. Family ties are the requirements that influence the right of succession in executive positions. However, there is a factor that cannot be disregarded, the conditions defined by the market and which will determine the professional profile for the person in charge to leverage company’s results, and preserve a good organizational image. That is to say, family soundness is not enough; the company needs to be competent in order to remain in the market. Two aspects can determine whether family business will survive and remain healthy in the long run: • The company should be treated as a company, preventing family issues to be talked and discussed inside the company. Family should be limited to the household environment and to areas designed for socialization with relatives, without interfering with professional actions and problems, since this could dissolve the soundness of this relationship. Other important aspect is family property and it should be respected, since serious issues, which may split the family, may also be a threat to fragment social capital, which demanded time and effort to be built. • Things change all the time. Once you understand that, is possible to observe that yesterday’s company may not adapt to the current market. Implementing values and a development oriented approach make people more flexible to internal and external changes, keeping an adaptability degree that is crucial for a perpetual business. The development of successors is extremely important for succession proceedings, since a successful transfer depends on proper training of the one who will take on the family business. Several issues must be observed, for instance: 1. The company should know its long term objectives and strategic parameters; 2. The correct profile must be defined, it involves: education, experience and professional results that will comprise the corporate manager role scope. Those shall be the founding qualities for a successor; 3. Now, you ought to have a development plan, emphasizing contents that shall be learned, how it will be done, deadlines, and expected results. The successor must be timely assessed in order to guide the Rich dad, noble son, poor grandson.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDU0Njk=