Family Businesses

When many people think about a family business they think about small businesses.  The reality is that a family business can be a multi-million dollar operation.  In order for a family business to pass through more than one generation, it is important for the strategy to be developed around preserving value.  While many family businesses do not make the same meteoric profits as public companies during economic upturns (a time of greater consumer spending and confidence) , they are more likely to earn higher profits over time and are less likely to lay off workers.

According to the Harvard Business Review, seven sustaining practices of family businesses include:

1.  A lean operation-this means that the company is careful with their spending.  Instead of spending profits on fancy offices, these type of operations tend to be frugal (thoughtfully spend) with their earnings in both good times and bad.

2.  Spending restrictions on capital projects (projects that require significant financial ans manpower investment)–all projects are carefully assessed and prove that it is likely to have a good return on the necessary investment.  In addition, before investing, potential investments are weighed against alternative investments and projects.

3.  Carrying little debt–in order to make sure that the company ownership stays within the family the typical family owned enterprise borrows money conservatively (with low risk).

4.  Acquiring fewer and smaller companies–growth comes organically, through patience and persistence of their own brands.  They are more likely to develop partnerships and joint ventures instead of the risk of purchasing another brand.

5.  Diversify–forty six percent of family businesses are diversified.  This means that they develop multiple product lines across different industries to protect themselves during economic downturns (periods of decreased consumer confidence and spending).  The theory is that if one industry is not doing well, another one should make up for the losses.

6.  Are More International–by ambitiously entering foreign markets.  However this growth is focused on steadily increasing market share over time and limiting the amount of the initial investment necessary to enter the market.

7.  Retain Talent Better than Competitors–typically, family businesses invest in their people!  People enjoy working for these companies because of the culture of commitment and purpose, reluctance to laying people off during downturns, and offering promotions to existing staff.

Some examples of large family owned businesses include:

 

Mars, Incorporated (McLean, VA)–Who doesn’t love Milky Way’s, Skittles, Snickers, Three Musketeers and M&M’s?  Obviously a lot of people do!  Last year, Mars employed 70,000 associates worldwide and sold more than 30 billion dollars in products (source mars.com).  The business is still entirely owned by the Mars Family who value their privacy.  They will not give press interviews and with the exception of one family member to be photographed in public.

Your quest is to post the name of a product that the Mars Family produces, and one fun fact that you learned about the company.  (Only one post per product)

 SC Johnson (Racine, Wisconsin) —Beginning as a parquet floor company in 1886, SC Johnson has grown to a global enterprise producing such products as Windex, Pledge, Ziploc, and Raid.  SC Johnson boasts of a cool 7.5 billion dollar revenue stream from its operation of 12,000 employees.

Your challenge is to share a green tip from SC Johnson with your classmates.  (Only one post per tip).

Do we have any class members whose family owns a business?  If so, please share with the class.

10 thoughts on “Family Businesses

  1. Very interesting post. I am very interested in the family business and learning how to develop or maintain it. It is also important to present it. This can be done with the help of the company’s services slidepeak.com/ After all, many family businesses have gained their worldwide popularity precisely due to the presentation of their product at international exhibitions and conferences.

  2. Hi. Good and useful article, thank you. Developing a family business is very cool. Such a business can exist for hundreds of years. And there are many examples of it. I recently decided to move with my family to another country and now I am worried and don’t know how to organize it. So far I have found a logistics company container drayage that promises to arrange transportation of equipment. But still no experience and don’t know how it will be. Has anyone come across this issue?

  3. I agree that family business can have a bright future. It’s just important to keep up with changing market conditions.

  4. I agree that keeping up with market conditions is important if you’re willing to develop a successful business and stay competitive over the years. Also, Sales enablement with training courses can help you boost conversion rates and boost your sales team’s efficiency, so such solutions are definitely worth considering.

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  7. Thanks for sharing your thoughts about Family businesses, these family businesses can be very helpful for students or job employees looking for a side income stream, but one thing I also should mention is that setting up any business or startup is not an easy task but a difficult and time taking task that requires proper attention and time. I remember my days of setting up a business which was a tiring task and took all of my time it enabled me to meet any of my commitments, even my assignments, and had to avail myself the Affordable Dissertation Writing Services In UK, from Pay for dissertations to complete my assignment on time.

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