Sustaining the Family Business--How Family Businesses Can Successfully Complete Intergenerational Succession

Author: Evan Landberg
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-12-01
Features: My personal experience in the power transition process of a family business can prove that this book is the perfect first-hand material on the succession process. The guidance Landberg provides for the successful intergenerational transfer of family businesses is truly invaluable. — CEO of Sims Limited, Marc Sims
Landberg's insightful perspectives have brought entirely new ideas to this field. Anyone who believes that family businesses are still stuck in the era of small grocery stores should read this book, and the sooner the better. — Louis B. Barnes, Honorary Professor, Harvard Business School
This book is a milestone in the field of family businesses. No other book cites as many references and incorporates as much practical experience. It is the best book I know for managing the intergenerational transfer of family businesses. — John Ward, Founder and Chairman of Family Business Consulting Group
Unlike the "authorities" who try to convince us that our only dream should be to pursue shareholder value unconditionally, Landberg brings a refreshing breeze to us. His profound insights into successfully passing on family dreams, family values, and family businesses make us realize that all family businesses are so humanistic. — Ludovico Van der Heyden, Professor, INSEAD
Finding a suitable successor for a beloved founder or CEO is often the most challenging task a company faces; for family businesses, completing this task presents even greater challenges. Surprisingly, from small grocery stores to multinational companies that dominate the global business landscape, few family businesses succeed in passing on to the next generation, and even fewer smoothly transfer their legacy to the third generation. The author of this book, Evan Landberg, is an organizational psychologist who grew up in a business family. In this book, he reveals the reasons for this high failure rate and proposes the conditions under which family businesses can successfully achieve intergenerational transfer. Landberg believes that family businesses are highly privatized, and due to the neglect of some deep psychological factors, many detailed succession plans are inevitably doomed to fail. He emphasizes that the family must have a "common dream," a kind of unique mission. Since Landberg offers suggestions on how to control the succession process, how to establish systematic selection procedures, and how to use the board of directors most effectively during the process, we gain a comprehensive understanding of the succession process. He is also someone who analyzes the various choices in the inheritance process. The multiple choices here include everything from the simplest transfer from one parent to a designated heir to more complex transfers from a sibling partnership team to a family partnership team. This book is based on a large number of cases from family businesses in the United States, Europe, and Latin America, offering comprehensive and profound insights into the complex succession process of family businesses.
Succession planning is a permanent mission of family businesses. This book is a book that provides in-depth and detailed solutions to the problems family businesses encounter at every different stage of development.