The challenge faced by family businesses and their stakeholders, is to recognise the issues that they face, understand how to develop strategies to address them and more importantly, to create narratives, or family stories that explain the emotional dimension of the issues to the family. The most intractable family business issues are not the business problems the organisation faces, but the emotional issues that compound them. Applying psychodynamic concepts will help to explain behaviour and will enable the family to prepare for life cycle transitions and other issues that may arise. Here is a new understanding and a broader perspective on the human dynamics of family firms with two complementary frameworks, psychodynamic and family systematic, to help make sense of family-run organisations. Although this book includes a conceptual section, it is first and foremost a practical book about the real world issues faced by business families. The book begins by demonstrating that many years of achievement through generations can be destroyed by the next, if the family fails to address the psychological issues they face. By exploring cases from famous and less well known family businesses across the world, the authors discuss entrepreneurs, the entrepreneurial family and the lifecycles of the individual and the organisation. They go on to show how companies going through change and transition can avoid the pitfalls that endanger both family and company. The authors then apply tools that will help family businesses in transition and offer their analyses and conclusions. Readers should draw their own conclusions from careful examination of the cases, identifying the problems or dilemmas faced and the options for improved business performance and family relationships. They should ask what they might have done in the given situation and what new insight into individual or family behaviour each case offers. The goal is to avoid a bitter ending.

By day, the Duncans are an upstanding family who run a thriving car dealership in Queens. By night, they live a dangerous secret life! Carl Weber and Eric Pete deliver a thrilling underworld drama in The Family Business. L.C. Duncan, patriarch of the family, is at the age when he’s starting to think about retirement in sunny Florida. But the recession is taking a bite out of the business and, worrying more, he has to decide which of his children should take over. When his workaholic son Orlando gets the nod, Orlando’s siblings—including the favorite son Vegas, conniving daughter London, glamorous party girl Paris and flamboyant nightclub owner Rio—are up in arms. But so are the Zunigas, a rival family whose fragile business alliance with the Duncans may explode at any moment. When Vegas suddenly breaks away from the family, London’s lawyer husband, Harris, makes a play for the company and all hell breaks loose. Selling cars, it turns out, is only a small part of the Duncans’ family business. Each member of the family has a secret expertise to reveal. And now, under siege from the Mafia, Mexican drug cartels and the Zunigas, the Duncans will have to stick together—or die separately!

Navigate the complex decisions and critical relationships necessary to create and sustain a healthy family business—and business family. Though "family business" may sound like it refers only to mom-and-pop shops, businesses owned by families are among the most significant and numerous in the world. But surprisingly few resources exist to help navigate the unique challenges you face when you share the executive suite, financial statements, and holidays. How do you make the right decisions, critical to the long-term survival of any business, with the added challenge of having to do so within the context of a family? The HBR Family Business Handbook brings you sophisticated guidance and practical advice from family business experts Josh Baron and Rob Lachenauer. Drawing on their decades-long experience working closely with a wide range of family businesses of all sizes around the world, the authors present proven methods and approaches for communicating effectively, managing conflict, building the right governance structures, and more. In the HBR Family Business Handbook you'll find: A new perspective on what makes family businesses succeed and fail A framework to help you make good decisions together Step-by-step guidance on managing change within your business family Key questions about wealth, unique to family businesses, that you can't afford to ignore Assessments to help you determine where you are—and where you want to go Stories of real companies, from Marchesi Antinori to Radio Flyer Chapter summaries you can use to reinforce what you've learned Keep this comprehensive guide with you to help you build, grow, and position your family business to thrive across generations. HBR Handbooks provide ambitious professionals with the frameworks, advice, and tools they need to excel in their careers. With step-by-step guidance, time-honed best practices, and real-life stories, each comprehensive volume helps you to stand out from the pack—whatever your role.

Generation to Generation will help managers understand the special dynamics & challenges that family businesses face as they move through their life cycles. It explains how to handle succession, & the role of non-family professionals.

Learn how to overcome the paradox of family business, and understand that synergy of the two entities will bring greater success than choosing one over the other

In Building a Successful Family Business Board , the authors show why private firms need the in-depth expertise and objective feedback that a well-chosen board, including qualified independent directors, can provide, and demonstrates how owners and directors can work together to ensure a long and profitable life for the firm.

New York Times bestselling author Carl Weber and Essence bestseller La Jill Hunt return with a story of love, betrayal and racism in the next addition to the wildly popular Family Business series. From the time he was a boy in Georgia, LC Duncan, patriarch and leader of the Duncan clan, has battled racism. Even now that he and his family are truly successful, the racism can still be in-your-face. Maybe it’s the political climate or perhaps it’s just bad timing, but LC and the rest of the Duncans are being challenged by the ultimate power-hungry racist, Sheriff KD Shrugs. Nevada Duncan is at that age when girls and sex are always on his mind. His handsome face and superior intellect attract Kia, the beautiful “Blasian” call girl who tempts him into running away to a place where the Duncans are definitely not wanted—El Paso, Texas, the home of KD Shrugs. What is the worst thing that can happen to a handsome, rich millennial? Rio Duncan would say it’s mistaken identity after being beat down in a nightclub by someone who thinks he’s Roman Johnson, a stickup kid who happens to be Rio’s doppelganger. What happens next will open up the biggest can of worms the Duncans have ever had to deal with. Get ready for another roller coaster ride with the Duncan family.

New York Times bestselling author Carl Weber and Essence bestseller La Jill Hunt return with a story of love, money, power, and respect in the next addition of the popular Family Business series. Five years ago, Orlando Duncan created the perfect drug in HEAT. It made the Duncans more than two hundred and fifty million dollars and was on its way to making them billionaires. However, they abruptly stopped manufacturing the drug when it was proven to cause cancer in rats. Yes, even as drug distributors, they still had a moral compass, placing lives over profit despite the overwhelming demand. When Orlando is awakened by an alarm in his old lab, he discovers that not only have all his computers, equipment, and notes been stolen, but the robbers have also taken over a million tabs of HEAT that he’d left behind for future experiments—tabs that he had sworn to his family he would destroy. Dr. Brandi Richardson is one of the most brilliant research chemists in the world, but her propensity for cutting corners led to her firing from both Dow Chemicals and Dupont. She’s now working at CVS as a clerk, but things are about to change for her in a big way. Billionaire Alexander Cora is known as the Moor by business associates and enemies. His company, Cora International, is a publicly traded EU defense contractor. It is also a front for one of the largest weapons, drugs, and illegal contraband smuggling rings in the world. For some reason, he has set his sights on the Duncan family. That can’t be good, because Alexander plays for keeps, and he has not been known to lose. Niles Monroe, the handsome hit man and Paris Duncan’s one true love, is back from the dead, and it’s only a matter of time before he comes looking for her. These rich and powerful people are on a collision course. When the dust settles, who will still be alive, and who will be on top?

From small start-ups to giant multinationals, from the Mom-and-Pop owned barber shop to Ford, family owned businesses continue to dominate the world economy. Regardless of size, running a successful family firm presents unique challenges, and many fail to survive the transition to the next generation. Here is a practical, comprehensive guide to ensuring success through effective strategic planning. The authors provide a wealth of tested, easy-to-follow tools and techniques for mastering strategic planning for family-owned firms. Filled with real world examples, case studies, checklists, and planning worksheets, the book shows how to deal with a host of emerging challenges--from new technologies and globalizing marketings--by integrating family values and dynamics into sound planning and management.