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tradition

Mining the past: How ‘history scripting’ strategies can help family businesses achieve competitive advantages

November 4, 2021

While many might consider history as just something that happened in the past, it is found in our research to have the potential to create important competitive advantages for family businesses and even new entrepreneurs.

“Spanning almost a hundred years, the story behind this restaurant [is told in] the lives of three generations of remarkable Chinese women. Their extraordinary journey takes us from the brutal poverty of village life in mainland China, to newly prosperous 1930s Hong Kong and finally to the UK. Their lives were as dramatic as the times they lived through.” – Sweet Mandarin.

How to approach gender non-conformity in business families

June 17, 2021

Parents of all social classes want their children to be happy and safe, to find a path that nurtures and supports them as they find a meaningful place in the world. In families where there are substantial financial resources, these expectations tend to mirror a distinct set of cultural norms.

Five things that family businesses must do to survive hard times

May 26, 2021

The British royal family, like many family businesses, has had its share of difficulties lately. Prince Harry, previously viewed as one of the great modernising influences, has become more distant from the traditional business after marrying Meghan Markle.

Meanwhile, his father Prince Charles has been waiting many years to take over; his uncle, Prince Andrew, has been caught up in an international scandal; and to cap it all, the Queen recently lost her husband, Prince Philip, after 74 years of marriage.

Fostering family dynamics that boost entrepreneurship

January 26, 2021

Most family fortunes were forged thanks to a founding entrepreneur and their successors who managed to uphold their legacy over the generations. The entrepreneurial tale of the founder is often passed down proudly from generation to generation. However, it is also common to see the successor generations concentrate so much on the core business that they sometimes lose the very entrepreneurial drive that gave rise to their family business in the first place.

However, it is also common to see the successor generations concentrate so much on the core business that they sometimes lose the very entrepreneurial drive that gave rise to their family business in the first place.

What are the five big family business challenges posed by Covid-19?

November 11, 2020

The Covid-19 pandemic and its social and economic reverberations are triggering particularly salient challenges for family businesses. The first one relates to family business succession.

The Covid-19 pandemic and its social and economic reverberations are triggering particularly salient challenges for family businesses. The first one relates to family business succession.

How families can make positive impact investments and get results

January 21, 2020

A quarter of family offices are already engaged in impact investing, a sector with assets worth $502 billion in 2019, roughly double the year before, but how can families really make a positive impact and return?

Institut auf dem Rosenberg makes next-gens top of the class

January 15, 2020

Institut auf dem Rosenberg is one of the leading international boarding schools for boys and girls aged 6-19 years. Owned and run by the Gademann family, Bernhard Gademann, the fourth-generation headmaster, explains how their elite facility gives the young family business leaders of tomorrow the edge in a competitive world.

Coopers Brewery ferments next generation in restructure

October 4, 2019

Australia’s leading family of brewers has restructured its senior management to enable the fifth generation to transfer from commercial to custodial roles while the upcoming sixth generation learns the business.

Coopers Brewery said the organisational restructure was designed to provide additional support for Dr Tim Cooper (pictured), fifth-generation managing director, and to provide a more effective and efficient engagement with customers. The changes included the appointment of a general manager and the recruitment of a national marketing manager.

Merck: Learning by example

April 16, 2019

Merck had been able to continually anticipate changes in the macro-environment and adapt itself

There are several things that family businesses can learn from the history of Merck.

Cohesion and continuity are the benefits of adherence to family values and tradition. Merck values of hard work, empathy, and striving for excellence were imbibed and inculcated across generations mainly through practice.

Muslim women face less stereotyping in family businesses, says research

February 19, 2014

Muslim women feel more comfortable in Muslim-owned family businesses where they are less likely to be stereotyped as oppressed or lacking authority, according to new research out of a South African university.

The qualitative research found, for example, that Muslim women felt uncomfortable about the perception of the hijab outside the family business setting, believing non-Muslims saw it as a symbol of oppression.