1. To many, the phrase “family business” connotes a small or midsized company with a local focus and a familiar set of problems, such as squabbles over succession. While plenty of mom-and-pop firms certainly fit that description, it doesn’t reflect the powerful role that family-controlled enterprises play in the world economy. Not only do they include sprawling corporations such as Walmart, Samsung, Tata Group, and Porsche, but they account for more than 30% of all companies with sales in excess of $1 billion, according to the Boston Consulting Group’s analysis.
2. How do companies survive not just for years, but for decades? For centuries even? During a global pandemic, researchers are studying anew what makes companies resilient, agile, and enduring. After all, Japanese construction firm Kongō Gumi, which builds temples, has been in business for 1,444 years. That’s a lot of war, natural disaster, and political turmoil to survive.
3. With 2022 holding out the prospect of growth and relatively greater stability than recent years, we anticipate a few key subjects on the family business agenda. Diversification-led acquisitions While a perennial business issue, the pandemic has pushed diversification up the agenda of many families in business. Having discovered the hard way that having all their wealth dependent on the performance of one sector can result in a significant dividend squeeze, the diversifying of business assets will grow in 2022. As a result, a number of families will be buying a business in a different sector to their legacy business, providing an alternative profit return, with a modest number exiting legacy sectors also.
4. Growth and Perpetuation of family business depends on successful transition of the business to the next generation. Unsuccessful transitions often lead to the failure of both the business and the family. This article intends to focus on one of the reasons for this failure which is the inability of family businesses to induct the next generation in the business or because of the errors made in this process.
5. We juxtapose the executive recruitment decisions of family and non-family firms. We hypothesize that hiring preferences toward executive candidates differ between family and non-family firms. We test our predictions against field data from executive recruitment processes involving family and non-family firms. Drawn from an executive hiring company, the sample includes 166 candidates in 56 selection processes on behalf of 42 client companies (28 family firms). Our results indicate that family firms prefer to hire managers with strong functional competence and leadership skills, whereas non-family firms prefer to employ managers with more pronounced market knowledge.
6. Family businesses are the most widespread type of business in the world. On the other hand, family businesses are estimated to contribute the most to the economic development of a country. Due to the importance of these businesses, numerous studies have been conducted to identify the problems faced by these businesses. One of the main problems of these businesses is the lack of professional management that is a result of the conventional approach of the owners of these businesses. This study was conducted in order to identify the problems faced by family businesses, and to also understand the negative reflections in the internal business environment that arise as a result of not shifting to a professional management of local family businesses operating in Kosovo.
