The Hindu Business Line : Think 'business family', not 'family business'

Family-owned firms have not only to manage business cycles but also life cycles of humans. "Because family members are intimately involved as employees and owners, their life cycles also have an impact on the business," write Randel S. Carlock and John L . Ward in 'Strategic Planning for the Family Business' (www.bookland.co.in). "Human life cycle events follow a life pattern that evolves over an average of 70-80 years. Industry and even organisational life cycles are much less predictable." Over the years, business families have become smarter; they create 'an open culture that involves as many family and non-family members as possible in the shaping and focus of the business.' In the place of the single owner-manager, we now have 'men and women from multiple generations of the extended family who benefit by working well as a t eam'. The authors assure that if planned and executed well, "the family business can become a dream job... We now see a younger generation that has a stronger interest in the family business because it is something that is uniquely theirs to build." They intro duce the concept of PPP (parallel planning process) as "a new way to gather the personal, financial and strategic priorities of both family and business and combine them into a single planning strategy for the family business." Think 'business family', not 'family business', exhort Carlock and Ward; 'an important change in thinking' to benefit from 'a new era of opportunity for human creativity' in the current century. They are positive that the best practices of flourishing fa mily firms can serve as "a model for the entire business community. All organisations can learn from successful families that develop plans based on core values, shared visions, fair process, long-term thinking, a commitment to stakeholders and stewardsh ip." A family read.

D.Murali

http://BookPeek.blogspot.com

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