The case examines succession challenges in a typical small and medium-sized family business based on technological production. The founder and his third wife were united by the company, but at the same time this brought two complex families with histories of divorce together. The case demonstrates the transition of a family enterprise, which widely involved the kinship network in the management process and attempted to select a single competent successor among the clan. It shows how immature attempts to engage clan members in the business could be costly, leading to relationship issues such as divorce, relationship cut-off, and even ruptures of family ties. Through analysis of this case, learners should be able to: • Appreciate the complexity of a family business when managed and owned by a clan composed of families of different marriages and with histories of multiple divorces. • Understand the pros and cons of a highly heterogeneous family-in-business. • Recognize the importance of the founder’s ideology in the successor choice and how a technically based business may require specialized education and long-term investments in the next generation. • Develop a set of criteria for successor choice and evaluate the appropriateness of the successors apparent based on this rubric.
C O N T E N T S
List of figures viii List of tables ix
List of contributors x
About the editors xv
Foreword by Pramodita Sharma xvii
Foreword by Daniel Trimarchi xix
About the STEP Project Global Consortium xxi
Acknowledgements xxiii
1 Family firms across the world: succession and governance in a disruptive era 1
Nupur Pavan Bang, Georges Samara, Rodrigo Basco, Andrea Calabrò, Jeremy Cheng, Luis Díaz-Matajira and Albert E. James
2 Family business case learning: how to maximize learnings from this STEP Project global casebook 10
Jeremy Cheng, Andrea Calabrò, Luis Díaz-Matajira, Nupur Pavan Bang, Rodrigo Basco, Albert E. James and Georges Samara
PART I CONFLICTS, SUDDEN DEATH AND SUCCESSION
3 Aborted succession: we need both succession and retirement plans 21
Miruna Radu-Lefebvre and Ameline Bordas
4 Mending the fence before the family fell apart: succession in the Shampoo family 28
Kavil Ramachandran and Nupur Pavan Bang
5 The silence before the storm: intragenerational conflict for succession 37
Özlem Yildirim-Öktem and Irmak Erdogan
6 Lessons learned from being NextGen 47
Peter Klein and Stefan Prigge
7 Florax Group: when unintended succession leads to unfulfilled promises 55
Rosemarie Steenbeek, Judith van Helvert and Jolanda D.A. Knobel
8 Succession turnaround at the Avendorp Group: a true family tragedy 63
Daniël Agterhuis, Julian van den Akker and Judith van Helvert Jeremy Cheng, Luis Díaz-Matajira, Nupur Bang, Rodrigo Basco, Andrea Calabrò, Albert James, and Georges Samara
PART II GOVERNANCE FOR TRANSITION PLANNING
9 Valuing our values: family values driving business success 73
Eric Clinton and Stephen Browne
10 Time to hang up the boots? 82
María Jesús Hernández-Ortiz, Francisca Panadés-Zamora, Myriam Cano-Rubio and Manuel Carlos Vallejo-Martos
11 A woman at the helm: growth and succession at Inversora Lockey C.A. 90
Nunzia Auletta and Patricia Monteferrante PART III UNCONVENTIONAL WISDOM IN UNUSUAL TIMES
12 “Should I stay or should I go?”: Filipe de Botton’s dilemma 102
Alexandre Dias da Cunha and Remedios Hernández-Linares
13 Can I retire? An early successor’s dilemma 113
Dalal Alrubaishi
14 Which family prevails during divorce and succession? The Wagner Avila case 121
Luis Díaz-Matajira and Stefano Wagner
15 “Chemical reaction”: choosing a successor in a mosaic family 129
Elena Rozhdestvenskaya
16 Clease Auto: how a global pandemic allowed a family to maintain their family business legacy 138
Elizabeth Tetzlaff, Brittany Kraus and Albert E. James
17 The Ricci Durand family in the COVID-19 pandemic 144
Carmen Pachas Orihuela, Antonio Martínez Valdez and César Cáceres Dagnino
PART IV RISING-GENERATION LEADERSHIP IN ONGOING DISRUPTIONS
18 Pineola Nurseries: family business succession under fire 153
Steve Gaklis
19 DC International: riding out of disruption as a third-generation successor 161
Marshall Jen, Jeremy Cheng, Kevin Au and Kelly Xing Chen
20 Am I ready for this? 169
21 Universal Cement Corporation: doing “one thing at a time” in the crisis of multiple needs? 177
Yi-Chun Lu, You-Fong Wu and Hsi-Mei Chung
22 Conclusion: the lessons learned 184
Rodrigo Basco, Albert E. James, Nupur Pavan Bang, Andrea Calabrò, Jeremy Cheng, Luis Díaz-Matajira and Georges Samara
Index 189