Learning in the Classroom and Beyond

August 21, 2023 - Issue #96

Family Business Professors: 34 Ways to Energize Your Class These free classroom exercises, interviews and other resources will add new energy, fun and inspiration to your students' course work.

Why Don't You Educate Your Owners? Everyone agrees that families should train members to become competent owners and stewards of the family business – but few of them actually walk the talk.

Videos for the Global Family Business Community These videos share best practices that help business owners, professors and students become more resilient.

Learning How Family Business Leaders Make Decisions Through Interviews This exercise allows students to apply core family business concepts to a real-world business context, reinforcing their grasp of the course materials.

Want to Give Your Entrepreneurship Students Real-World Experience? Try Consulting Projects Students gain exposure to the inner-workings of a business, while entrepreneurs receive a fresh perspective, academic insight and assistance.

Future Family Business Owners Can Learn to Manage Conflict This classroom exercise dissects the five approaches to managing disputes, and their likely outcomes.

What All Family Businesses Can Learn From the Merck Family The Germany-based global health care, pharmaceutical and performance materials firm has kept its vast family ownership team aligned for 13 generations.

Team Exercise: How Parenting Styles Affect The Next Generation This experiential exercise is designed to enhance student learning about the four parenting styles and how they affect the dynamics within the family firm.

Developing Competent Owners and Stewards for a Lasting Family Business Educating family members to become such competent, responsible stewards of the family enterprise is a responsibility, and not a choice.

Assessments Can Help Develop Family Business Leaders From simple surveys or interviews to complex, statistically robust reporting, assessments give current and future leaders a source of objective data for better decision-making.

Learn to Defend Your Family Firm This classroom exercise helps future family firm members learn to anticipate outside threats to their business and defend it.

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Recent

Cooperating with Competitors is Good Business in Japan

by Sigrun C. Caspary, Tom Rüsen, and Arist von Schlippe / Research Insight

In Japan, family businesses are encouraged to help one another for the benefit of their shared customers and their community. It has helped them survive setbacks and thrive. Read more...

Why Enterprising Families Need a Code of Conduct

by Maryann G. Bell / Applied and Practice

As Prince Andrew showed, one person’s behavior can become everyone’s problem. Families must set expectations, outline processes, and provide clarity before emotions take over. Read more...

Will Your Family Brand Survive New Leadership?

by Meghan Lynch / Practice Insight

As trillions in family-owned companies shift to next-generation leaders, one critical asset is being ignored: the brand. Here’s why brand value—often nearly 20% of enterprise worth—erodes during succession and how families can protect it. Read more...

From 'Passing Down' to 'Building Up': Rethinking Values in Family Firms

by Viktoria Luft, Anne Katarina Heider, Heinrich Liechtenstein, and Tarek el Sehity / Research Insight

Rather than inherited like family heirlooms, values are shaped and re-shaped by interactions between the generations at the family firm. Read more...

by Boyka Simeonova and Mat Hughes

Things to Consider When Transferring Family Business Ownership

by Susan Lanz, Gary Burke, Kajsa Haag, and Omid Omidvar

Ready to Lead: Building Confidence Across Generations

by Paul Edelman

Listening to the Family: The Strategic Value of Surveys

by Claudia Binz Astrachan

Here Are the Next Gen's Biggest Worries

by Kimberly Eddleston