Running a family business tips

The goals of the family and the business are often at odds. Family history can inspire bold and necessary steps that are still in harmony with the family’s image of itself.   A family sitting Read More...

Category: Research Insight

Authors: Lara Pecis , Bingbing Ge and Florian Bauer

Your "owners' strategy" should consider that in the future, the family firm will likely have many more owners. Take a broader focus when you develop it. In the US, most family business advisory firms Read More...

Category: Practice Insight

Authors: Claudia Binz Astrachan and Tom Rüsen

Fiduciary boards keep family firms focused on the long term, rather than on short-term, tactical strategies.  But many family firms resist having one, fearful of losing control of their Read More...

Category: Interviews

Author: Kimberly Eddleston

A conversation orientation in the family carries over to the business -- especially for women, who are increasingly becoming the family firm's "vocal heroes." Have you ever wondered if family Read More...

Category: Research Insight

Authors: Kristen Shanine and Kristen Madison

Family businesses should consider a social media policy as a relatively “low-hanging fruit” to introduce the next generation to governance work. Does your business family have a social media Read More...

Category: Practice Insight

Authors: Claudia Binz Astrachan , Tom Rüsen and Rebecca DeYarman

The stories that families tell about their past matter.  Here are some ways that families can begin to use the past to serve their present-day goals. Family firms often frame their history as a Read More...

Category: Research Insight

Authors: Christina Lubinski and William Gartner

Recent events in the US Presidential race have focused people around the world on the topic of leadership and age. When is a leader, whether of a country or a business, too old to do the job? When Read More...

Category: Commentary

Author: Salvatore Sciascia

Many of us are (or at least we believe ourselves to be!) natural-born problem solvers: Once we recognize a problem, we want to resolve it as expediently as possible. As a result, we fall into Read More...

Category: Practice Insight

Authors: Joseph Astrachan and Claudia Binz Astrachan

When a family firm reaches a certain size, the family may decide to transfer their wealth and their ownership into a family office. These offices help business families manage their wealth across Read More...

Category: Research Insight

Authors: Joern Block , Reza Fathollahi and Onur Eroglu

Part 2 of a two-part series As we showed in part 1 of this discussion , trying to use budgets as both a planning tool and an expectations setting tool can be destructive, because the self-interests Read More...

Category: Practice Insight

Author: Joseph Astrachan