Chocolates or Boiled Lollies ?
Welcome to 2007. The stock market continues on its merry way and the papers are all talking about the rights and wrongs of equity capital.
Many family business have ventured down the path of bringing in equity partners and many have been unable to work within the new structure and reporting processes that equity partners insist on. My experience is that those family members who chose to stay need to make enormous adjustments. It usually better to leave the business permanently and take your payment and or hope for future dividends.
This week the ABC featured the Lee family who owned Daryl Lee Chocolates. Well, did that program bust the myth of the perception of the ideal family business. If what we saw portrayed on the show was correct, then every older generation who are the typical family business control freak should watch it. In fact,it was my own father all over again. The end result is a split family where siblings and sons and daughters are enemies for life. The story showed the importance of succession planning, the need to have a family council and the need to have trusted advisors who are available to all family memebers. In this story these vital strategies very missing.
it is possible to exit members from a family business without making long lasting enemies. No family member should have an automatic right to a senior position in the business. However, this should be recognised and discussed at the point of entry and the rules of the game must be written down.
The Lee story is intersting in that the business seems to be thriving in spite of what we saw on the ABC program. Just maybe , the story was only half told.
Bill Winter
Many family business have ventured down the path of bringing in equity partners and many have been unable to work within the new structure and reporting processes that equity partners insist on. My experience is that those family members who chose to stay need to make enormous adjustments. It usually better to leave the business permanently and take your payment and or hope for future dividends.
This week the ABC featured the Lee family who owned Daryl Lee Chocolates. Well, did that program bust the myth of the perception of the ideal family business. If what we saw portrayed on the show was correct, then every older generation who are the typical family business control freak should watch it. In fact,it was my own father all over again. The end result is a split family where siblings and sons and daughters are enemies for life. The story showed the importance of succession planning, the need to have a family council and the need to have trusted advisors who are available to all family memebers. In this story these vital strategies very missing.
it is possible to exit members from a family business without making long lasting enemies. No family member should have an automatic right to a senior position in the business. However, this should be recognised and discussed at the point of entry and the rules of the game must be written down.
The Lee story is intersting in that the business seems to be thriving in spite of what we saw on the ABC program. Just maybe , the story was only half told.
Bill Winter
posted by Bill Winter at 4:27 PM
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