The world’s oldest continuously operating family business ended its impressive run last year. Japanese temple builder Kongo Gumi, in operation under the founders’ descendants since 578, succumbed to excess debt and an unfavorable business climate in 2006. How do you make a family business last for 14 centuries? Kongo Gumi’s case suggests that it’s a […]
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Demographic trends in North America indicate an inversion of the age pyramid with individuals 65 years and over constituting the fastest growing sector of the population (e.g., Lansberg, Perrow,and Rogolsky, 1988). With this greying of the population, the number of family business leaders confronting succession and retirement will accelerate in the coming decades (Deloitte and […]
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Be thankful. We baby boomers have been fortunate to have lived through decades of the most prosperous time in much of recorded history. We have reaped (earned) much of these benefits. This accumulation has seemed relatively easy though “a rising tide floats all ships”. How will this $400 billion (in Canada + $ 4.1 trillion […]
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Succession. Two components are critical to the longevity of a business. 1. Succession of the business from one generation to the next, and 2. Succession of the key management. Many progressive businesses are (thankfully) proactively working on family ownership succession. This would include engaging the next generation and having lots of conversations. It would also […]
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As we enter fall, the change of the seasons signals a time for reflection, and organization. Lately, I have had the opportunity to work with families, where the matriarch or patriarch passed unexpectedly. The heirs were caught by surprise and had to scramble with significant time (and some expense) to figure out 1) what to […]
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