Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Is family –owned business model sustainable?

Many companies in the past have done well because of great visionary capabilities of the founders. Some of the founders are very hands-on (technical) and many others had the urge and drive to become entrepreneurs. So, it maybe difficult to say that one needs to be hands-on to be a successful entrepreneur. Maybe it helps, but at times it may work negatively (we have many cases of this).
A few things that emerge clearly from successful founder are some of the key traits- 1. Very hardworking. 2. Very passionate, 3. Concern for people and surroundings, 4. Purpose and goal of life is clearly beyond self, it would encompass- country, region, community, etc. 5. Driven by merit, 6. Straightforward, 7. Quick to learn, 8. Deep understanding of the business. 9. Focus on the content and process, 10. Taking risk, (for many of these people the word risk doesn’t exist).
The business model will survive if the successor has these traits. Specifically for family-owned business model, genetically it should help to have some of these traits in the family in various degrees. So one could assume half the problems solved for family-owned business model, but solving half the problem or even 90% of the problem when you are at the helm of affairs is not good enough in today’s business world.