Did you know that less than 3% of family-owned businesses make it to the fourth generation? As a fourth-generation, family-owned business, Warwick Publishing are proud to say they’re part of that 3%. But now they’ve actually made it to the fifth as one of their newest employees, and the fifth generation in the Warwick family business is Alex Paschal. But first, the family history. Before we fully introduce you to Alex, first we’d like to give you a brief run-down on the family lineage. First up is Lina Paschal. Lina purchased the company, which was a newspaper publisher (The Valley Chronicle), from her brother-in law, Albert Hall, in 1903. In 1926, Lina stepped down and her nephew, Paul Paschal, took over. It was under Paul’s leadership that the company started producing calendars with logos as a means of using the presses when not printing papers. It was also during this time, in 1926, when they officially became Warwick Publishing Company. At the end of WWII, Don and John Paschal took the reins of the company. Between 1977 and 1999, Rob and Jim Paschal (Don’s sons) purchased the company. The original newspaper operation was sold in 1989, at which time the business focused fully on promotional products. Which brings us nicely to the next generation, the fifth generation, Alex. And trust us when we say Alex worked hard to get to where he is with the family business. Not just handed to him: what it took for Alex to prove his worth. Alex graduated from the University of Dayton (Dayton, OH) with a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering and a minor in Business Administration. He then continued on at Dayton to receive his master’s degree in Business Administration shortly thereafter. During graduate school, Alex was part of a teaching team in the chemical engineering department. His major role was to help out with the senior capstone lab courses, with a specific focus on safety, proper experimental techniques, and analytical methods. As a minor role, Alex also helped students grapple technical skills in coding courses and financial skills in the senior capstone. Though this experience was not directly related to managing a business, Alex believes his experience gained from teaching safety education directly translates to maintaining safe working conditions in our plant and office. His graduate capstone was an integrated project with a local Dayton-area business, in which he and his peers spent a semester acting as a consulting group that developed an action plan for the owner as the final deliverable. Of the project, Alex says, “It was both an incredible and intense experience that taught me how to strategically plan businesses for the future without it being distilled by a classroom setting.” Professional development and learning the ropes. Though Alex officially joined the team full-time in January of 2020, that wasn’t the first time he’d worked in the family business. Throughout college, he had been working part-time, learning the ropes in as many departments as he could, including HR, die-cutting and foil stamping, as well as operating the digital presses. Throughout college, Alex attended various leadership seminars through the National Society of Leadership and Success, as well as a University of Dayton Entrepreneurial Summit called “Flyer Formation.” Between January and June of 2020, he started and finished the PPAI online education, resulting in earning an MAS (Master Advertising Specialist) certification. As Alex himself recognises, “Warwick has always been a constant in my life. Whether I was working part-time during summers or just stopping by to visit, there really hasn’t been much of a time where I haven’t been involved with the company. Being the only fifth generation member is certainly daunting, but I’m excited to finally get involved in my family’s business on a more permanent basis, especially during this crazy time we’re living through.” And, of course, we can’t leave you without a word from co-owner—and Alex’s father— fourth generation family member Rob Paschal. “Alex has a lot on his plate right now—especially given the current global environment,” says Rob, “but he has the drive, the initiative, and the passion to help us continue to grow this company.” Find out more on their website here

From the outside, the Alexander family seemed to have it all. Henry, the grandfather and family patriarch, had managed to turn a small corner store into a national chain and market leader. Not only did the business provide the next two generations a lifestyle that would have seemed unfathomable when Henry opened his first shop, but the business helped keep the family extraordinarily close. Henry’s sons all lived in close proximity, as did their children, most of whom worked for the company after graduation and spent much of their free time together. Below the surface, however, another reality existed. The tragic death of one of Henry’s children years before had been devastating to the family. It brought them even closer, but it had also led to a desire to avoid conflict at any cost. Why argue when life is short and precious? But that meant that family members were so afraid of damaging the family relationships that they were extremely reluctant to confront each other–on personal or business issues. Disagreements were quickly papered over to maintain a veneer of harmony. This came at a cost that they did not realize until much later. For most people, conflict is uncomfortable. That can be especially true in families who’ve watched family conflict tear successful businesses to pieces: Consider the Ambani brothers in India, the founders of Adidas in Germany, the Redstone family in the US, and even the fictional families of the 1980s TV show Dallas or the current HBO show Succession. What’s less often recognized is that too little conflict in a family business can have an equally destructive impact. When I discuss this with my students at Columbia Business School, where I teach a class on conflict in family businesses, it quickly becomes apparent that the impact of both too much and too little conflict on both the family and their enterprise are almost identical. In both cases, the business can suffer from limited growth, poor decision-making, a loss of competitive advantage, and, in severe cases, the sale or split of the company. Similarly, families tend to break up into factions and suffer poor relationships. The mechanisms are different, but the results are the same. Conflict is a ‘Goldilocks problem.’ Both ends of the spectrum are ultimately unsustainable–so the best place is in the middle. While Goldilocks may trigger you to think about the fairy tale with the three bears, a better insight comes from our solar system. The earth is in what astronomers refer to as a Goldilocks Zone. Much closer to the sun and it would be too hot to sustain life, much further and it would be too cold. Though the reasons differ, both extremes make life uninhabitable. Think about conflict as having two faces: external and internal. The external face of too much conflict is what we typically think of: the shouting, the screaming, the outwardly expressed anger. The internal face of too little conflict is different, it is quiet seething, an iceberg of emotions where the surface is pleasant enough, but the danger lies beneath. Between these two extremes lies a healthy middle, where difficult issues can be raised, addressed, and resolved without doing lasting damage to relationships or shared assets. The reality is that unless a family’s interests are perfectly aligned, a rare occurrence in my experience, some conflict is inevitable. Therefore, the priority is to manage it, not tolerate or eliminate it. Conflict that is not managed inevitably escalates. For families on the ‘too much’ side of the spectrum, the challenge is how to reduce the intensity of the external conflict so that constructive conversations can occur. For those families on the ‘too little’ side, they must learn how to disagree in order to release the pressure that builds up from internal conflict. At least in my experience, the ‘too little’ side of the spectrum more common in families, even though it receives less attention from the media. Most families are conditioned not to fight with each other. Ask almost anyone what matters most to them and it is their family, including the ability to spend time together to celebrate holidays, weddings, and so on. This pressure to be the perfect family that never disagrees often ends up sowing the seeds of destruction down the road. What actually constitutes excessive conflict (vs. constructive disagreement, etc.) depends on personal interpretation and varies by the culture of the family. Some families can more easily tolerate external conflict than others, and the extent to which people will stoically put aside their interests to support the common cause also varies. But here’s a three-part quiz you can use to get the conversation started about whether your family enterprise is in the Goldilocks Zone: Is there general satisfaction with the direction of the family enterprise? You may not be happy about every aspect, but if someone asked you if you were “better together than apart”, you would answer with an unequivocal yes. Are decisions about critical issues being made? You may not address every single point of disagreement, but everyone would agree that there is no “elephant in the room.” Are family relationships good enough to work and celebrate together? You don’t have to be best friends to own significant assets together. Instead, you have to be good business partners, which means you are aligned on the big issues and can enjoy each other’s company, at least most of the time. Last year, a friend forwarded me a picture he took of a can of Sierra Nevada beer. On the top of it is the line, ‘FAMILY OWNED, OPERATED & ARGUED OVER.’ I have seen many businesses brand themselves around their family ownership, but this was the first I have seen to include conflict in that description. Ken Grossman, Sierra Nevada’s founder, says, “It’s funny, but it’s the truth. We can get together and argue over what’s best for us as a company moving forward, but we all do it in good faith, knowing that everyone wants what’s best overall.” If you can say something similar about your family enterprise, there’s a good chance you have found the Goldilocks Zone of conflict. If not, you may find yourself in the same position as the Alexanders. Throughout the years, tempers would begin to flare – not because there was too much disagreement, but because important decisions were avoided rather than dealing with potential disagreement. Eventually, the family decided to sell the company rather than tackle any disagreements that would threaten to disrupt family harmony, such as how to transition the business to the third generation. Unfortunately, the issues that were unaddressed did not go away because the business was sold – historical grievances remained, with new ones emerging from those who opposed the sale. And without the business to keep them together, the family started to drift apart. Five years later, many family members looked back on the sale as a mistake. Both the business and the close relationships were now gone. No one aims to have conflict within a business – and even worse, within a family. But some conflict is actually healthy. It provides a chance to clear the air of lingering resentments, potential issues, and even find a productive process for disagreeing and still making decisions. Good conflict doesn’t have to destroy a family—managed well, it can make the bonds even stronger. First Published : 26 December 2018. HBR.org Reproduced with permission of the author.

Paul Andrews is joined by Stephen Bamfylde for an insight on building an outstanding leadership team comprising family and external talent. A significant challenge facing family businesses is knowing when and how to bring in external talent while developing internal family members. There is nuance required to find both the right skillset and the right fit for the culture and ethos of the business and it takes confidence for a business to acknowledge when a candidates might not be a good hire, based purely on the latter. For family members within the business it is important there is a clear pathway for development as well as scope for honest conversations along the way about when external hires might be needed. Saxton Bampfylde have long worked with family businesses on external appointments and their founder Stephen Bampfylde will lead a session on how he has seen this work well in partnership with talent within the family, the importance of on-boarding and how businesses can articulate their culture and approach to prospective candidates.

As part of the Stewardship Principles for Family Businesses campaign, Stewardship Asia interviewed Mr Zengoro Hoshi, the 46th generation owner of Hoshi Ryokan to uncover the insights, values and stories behind this 1300 year old family-owned inn. See the interview and appreciate the values and the heritage behind one of the oldest family businesses in the world.

Due to the global pandemic the finale of the 2020 Family Business of the Year Awards premiered on YouTube on Thursday June 25 at 7.30pm. These awards are the annual celebration of family firms organised by Family Business United to celebrate the contribution that family firms make across the UK today. Take a look at the class of 2020! The show reveals the winners of the awards in a show that was created during the ‘lockdown’ and filmed by the finalists themselves and collated into a showreel by the fantastic team at Howell Films. Watch as events unfold, winners are announced by sector and region and culminate in the crowning of the Supreme Champion Family Business of the Year for 2020.

Creed boasts an unbroken line of perfumers: father-to-son, descending and developing through seven generations. Creed is the quintessential family business. The Creeds have the unique genetic heritage of a discerning nose for scent – a centuries’ long passion for perfume. This gives the House an authenticity beyond price. This unique story began in 1760 when a pair of scented leather gloves was delivered to King George III by a new London tailoring company. Founded by James Henry Creed in the same year as the young King’s accession, the House of Creed has created fragrances for the discerning and the discriminating for over 260 years. Queen Victoria, George III’s granddaughter, appointed Creed as an official supplier to the Royal Household. Then, in 1854, under the patronage of Napoleon III and his Empress, Eugénie, the stylish leader of European fashion, the House of Creed moved its headquarters to Paris. Victoria had praised Creed only too well to her fellow Sovereigns. In newly rebuilt and glittering Second Empire Paris, Creed embellished its reputation for impeccable tailoring and for the exclusivity of its rare and limited House fragrances. The tact and discretion with which a royal, aristocratic and socially prominent clientele were handled rapidly became part of the Creed legend. Creed has created a legacy of unrivalled scents treasured by perfume connoisseurs and all admirers of quality, style and panache. Over the centuries, the Creed family has produced over 200 perfumes all testifying to a unique creative spirit that has been passed, together with a keen inherited nose, from father to son through seven generations. Today Olivier Creed, ‘Créateur Parfumeur’ and direct descendant of James Henry Creed, continues this great tradition. Accompanied by his son Erwin, Olivier travels extensively to source, research, inspect and commission the finest materials. Rose from Bulgaria, Turkey & Morocco; Italian jasmine; Florentine iris; tuberose from India; Haitian vetiver; Bourbon vanilla; Calabrian bergamot and Parma violets. These are just a few of innumerable treasures in the Creed laboratory. They are all ingredients which have been used in haute parfumerie for many centuries, even millenia. Still based in Paris, with a factory at Fontainebleau, Creed manufactures many of its own essences using a traditional infusion technique which enables Creed to maintain the superior quality and authenticity of its fragrances. The process is intricate and incredibly meticulous but Creed is driven by artistry and perfection. A timeless, modern act of creation: perfume of the past, fragrance of the future. Find out more at www.creedfragrances.co.uk

Dr. Joseph H. Astrachan, Executive Director of the Cox Family Enterprise Center at Kennesaw State University, speaks on on the topic of Building a Family Business That Lasts and provides viewers with four key points to walk away with.

Family business practitioners see the investigation of differentness family to family and detail to detail as the heart of today’s practice. When it comes to family business there is no “identikit.” No off the shelf package will sort out the identikit governance and succession problems of your family business clients. Each family differs down to your last incisive question that uncovers the particularity at the root of its challenges. David Harvey explains more. Family business practitioners see the investigation of differentness family to family and detail to detail as the heart of today’s practice and this requires new techniques and competencies. Your practice needs not just core accounting but also access to coaching, psychological, management, family law, wealth management, mediation and counselling skills to provide a tailored governance solution focused on the dynamic of each family. There is an alternative; you may be the adviser whose prognoses required the engagement of a more expensive adviser to undo the damage. The Family Dynamic A client review for a new family client seldom goes beyond the business fundamentals. Yet in family businesses there is no decision untouched by the chemistry of family – the big things in life – the family ethos, myths and history, passions, duties, friendships, values, convictions and personalities. Family businesses are shaped by families and so should that new client review be. The best of the men (and women) of affairs at the shoulder of business patriarchs and matriarchs have always known that the feud between two arms of the family may be about business outside but childhood jealousies and rivalries inside. “Our parents sent you to INSEAD and brought you back to run half the business – I learned top to bottom”, as a second son put it to me, will perhaps shape family dynamics for 50 years. Taken this way contract terms and discounted cash flows can become lesser considerations than narcissism and ego. Do you feel capable of discovering and negotiating with these issues? Can You Enlist Someone Who Can? Over the last 25 years family owners and advisers are more willing to face, discuss and learn from family truths and to consider family and business together to shape their responsibilities and responses to both. Yet even in economies such as India where the importance of family business is recognised, the recognition of family/business interaction is merely dawning. The right answers, competencies and networks are still a question mark for many advisers. A Little Knowledge Is Dangerous And so is the temptation to offer packaged solutions, where family or advisers read an article like this, or pick up a book and call for an off the shelf family constitution, family office or family Council as a magic bullet to solve problems. This misses the point. Without deep family introspection, discussion and the building of trust and communication empty structures achieve nothing. Yes, handling issues of family business governance and succession does require a tool kit of structures. It needs good knowledge of the application of trusts, international law, family law, foundations and tax. Most of all it requires knowledge of the interaction of the technical and the personal; the latter being the trained capacity to coach and mentor family business members by asking the right questions that bring families to communicate honestly and constructively about the future. The Indian Family Business Environment Worldwide the picture is partial, but “in Asia in general, no comprehensive picture is still clear on most aspects of family business” (K. Ramachandran – Indian Family Business: Their survival beyond three generations – Indian School of Business Working paper series 2005). Yet some 71% of listed Indian capital is family owned and that suggests that an even larger proportions of private business is too (S. Chakrawertti, Families aren’t such a bad deal, Commentators worldwide agree that family commitment to the long term, to family members and to community is a great strength often building greater profitability. Equally whilst little is known about survival rates for Indian family business, commentators agree that, everywhere they carry the seeds of their own destruction. The old saying “shirt sleeves to shirt sleeves in 3 generations” has much truth to it, perhaps 5% survive to the 4th generation. Crises of succession terminate many enterprises; the wrong heir; fighting heirs; unprepared heirs; heirs who did not want to inherit but wanted to be anything else; founders who die without any plan and leave heirs clueless about the business; founders who retire in name and within 18 months come back. In today’s India, with a more open and competitive economy even a shared decision between the generations can be fatal as markets change. Equally, validly many families decide rationally that the business is no longer for them and sell to everyone’s benefit. The worldwide GLOBE model study of societies (GLOBE Study of 62 Societies, Sage, 2004) was applied to south Asia as one of ten family business cultures. This work assesses the nature of family involvement in the business, provides pointers for the adviser and owner assessing their situation and so suggests culture specific issues and methods for structuring, managing and advancing family involvement (Culturally Sensitive Models of Family Business in Southern Asia – Gupta, Levenberg, Moore, Motwani and Schwarz, ICFAI University Press, Hyderabad 2008). The GLOBE data highlight particular governance and succession circumstances in India. A foremost feature is the joint concern for the wealth and welfare of the family, often expressed in the Karta system. As yet, though, there is little formalisation of this characteristic in governance save in the larger Indian dynasties. Jay Hughes’s book Family Wealth: Keeping It in the Family” is a useful introduction to that formality (Bloomberg 2004) as an inspiring tool kit for the advancement of family business and wealth. For Hughes wealth is not money but the developing aims of the family and the emotional and intellectual capital shared between them over decades, which will include stewarding and building wealth but also the personal aspirations of individuals and the family. If families can use their human and intellectual capital to their fuller potential, then the business has a vastly better chance of surviving – and growing. Hughes’s proposed and other governance structures are gaining familiarity: family meetings, facilitated for the honest discussion of difficult and substantial issues•a family constitution of rules governing how business and family interact, including a framework for employment and recruitment into the business, the role of outsiders and the structure of ownership and succession succession plans to structure the change in generation creating a family’s mission statement structure for reporting the family’s human and intellectual capital on the Family Balance Sheet and a Family Income Statement – for instance accounted for in a family balanced scorecard clear definitions of roles and responsibilities the development of a family office as a centre of management for the family rules covering marriage, nuptial agreements and divorce and the impact on ownership; increasingly significant as families globalise These structures are only a means to and end; it is the work that families do together to create them through effective communication, mutual understanding and respectful agreement on the future that matters. Have family members worked hard? Are family members just signing a piece of paper or will they really commit? If the former then the family will need one lawyer to design a structure and a more expensive one to get them out of it. The second major feature of the GLOBE study points to the better educated next generation Indian family members offering challenges as well as opportunities. They want faster change, will draw in many more experiences and influences, will have often worked elsewhere and are unlikely to want to wait. They may drive profitability and expansion. Equally, tensions between generations may cause severe damage. Ramachandran suggests that the success of the few 4th generation Indian families is founded on focus on long term family wealth that averts green field risk, but diversifies and experiments with caution. The process of bringing the next generation into the business should take years, with a careful education emphasising responsibility and choices for the next generation and respect and recognition for the older one. Research by Professor John Van Reenan (Keeping family-owned firms family-run from one generation to the next can be bad for business, Bloom, Nick and Sadun, Raffaella and Van Reenen, John LSE2011) demonstrates that succession selection should be on merit, not primogeniture otherwise poorer performance is a norm. Today India’s business families have a greater global presence. To best support them as families short courses, articles and books (for instance Ivan Lansberg’s Succeeding Generations or Randel Carlock’s Strategic Planning for the Family Business) are a useful introduction. There is now a much wider access to family business professional development. Advising families in business on governance and succession is as specialist as taxation, treasury or forensic accounting. Gaining the necessary competencies should be taken as seriously by any firm wishing to increase the wealth of family clients. Skills gained, in the family business advisory discipline, nothing beats practice to analyse and support the individual circumstances of each family. Remember where we came in, no family business is identikit. Reproduced with permission of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners

Family business practitioners see the investigation of differentness family to family and detail to detail as the heart of today’s practice. When it comes to family business there is no “identikit.” No off the shelf package will sort out the identikit governance and succession problems of your family business clients. Each family differs down to your last incisive question that uncovers the particularity at the root of its challenges. David Harvey explains more. Family business practitioners see the investigation of differentness family to family and detail to detail as the heart of today’s practice and this requires new techniques and competencies. Your practice needs not just core accounting but also access to coaching, psychological, management, family law, wealth management, mediation and counselling skills to provide a tailored governance solution focused on the dynamic of each family. There is an alternative; you may be the adviser whose prognoses required the engagement of a more expensive adviser to undo the damage. The Family Dynamic A client review for a new family client seldom goes beyond the business fundamentals. Yet in family businesses there is no decision untouched by the chemistry of family – the big things in life – the family ethos, myths and history, passions, duties, friendships, values, convictions and personalities. Family businesses are shaped by families and so should that new client review be. The best of the men (and women) of affairs at the shoulder of business patriarchs and matriarchs have always known that the feud between two arms of the family may be about business outside but childhood jealousies and rivalries inside. “Our parents sent you to INSEAD and brought you back to run half the business – I learned top to bottom”, as a second son put it to me, will perhaps shape family dynamics for 50 years. Taken this way contract terms and discounted cash flows can become lesser considerations than narcissism and ego. Do you feel capable of discovering and negotiating with these issues? Can You Enlist Someone Who Can? Over the last 25 years family owners and advisers are more willing to face, discuss and learn from family truths and to consider family and business together to shape their responsibilities and responses to both. Yet even in economies such as India where the importance of family business is recognised, the recognition of family/business interaction is merely dawning. The right answers, competencies and networks are still a question mark for many advisers. A Little Knowledge Is Dangerous And so is the temptation to offer packaged solutions, where family or advisers read an article like this, or pick up a book and call for an off the shelf family constitution, family office or family Council as a magic bullet to solve problems. This misses the point. Without deep family introspection, discussion and the building of trust and communication empty structures achieve nothing. Yes, handling issues of family business governance and succession does require a tool kit of structures. It needs good knowledge of the application of trusts, international law, family law, foundations and tax. Most of all it requires knowledge of the interaction of the technical and the personal; the latter being the trained capacity to coach and mentor family business members by asking the right questions that bring families to communicate honestly and constructively about the future. The Indian Family Business Environment Worldwide the picture is partial, but “in Asia in general, no comprehensive picture is still clear on most aspects of family business” (K. Ramachandran – Indian Family Business: Their survival beyond three generations – Indian School of Business Working paper series 2005). Yet some 71% of listed Indian capital is family owned and that suggests that an even larger proportions of private business is too (S. Chakrawertti, Families aren’t such a bad deal, Commentators worldwide agree that family commitment to the long term, to family members and to community is a great strength often building greater profitability. Equally whilst little is known about survival rates for Indian family business, commentators agree that, everywhere they carry the seeds of their own destruction. The old saying “shirt sleeves to shirt sleeves in 3 generations” has much truth to it, perhaps 5% survive to the 4th generation. Crises of succession terminate many enterprises; the wrong heir; fighting heirs; unprepared heirs; heirs who did not want to inherit but wanted to be anything else; founders who die without any plan and leave heirs clueless about the business; founders who retire in name and within 18 months come back. In today’s India, with a more open and competitive economy even a shared decision between the generations can be fatal as markets change. Equally, validly many families decide rationally that the business is no longer for them and sell to everyone’s benefit. The worldwide GLOBE model study of societies (GLOBE Study of 62 Societies, Sage, 2004) was applied to south Asia as one of ten family business cultures. This work assesses the nature of family involvement in the business, provides pointers for the adviser and owner assessing their situation and so suggests culture specific issues and methods for structuring, managing and advancing family involvement (Culturally Sensitive Models of Family Business in Southern Asia – Gupta, Levenberg, Moore, Motwani and Schwarz, ICFAI University Press, Hyderabad 2008). The GLOBE data highlight particular governance and succession circumstances in India. A foremost feature is the joint concern for the wealth and welfare of the family, often expressed in the Karta system. As yet, though, there is little formalisation of this characteristic in governance save in the larger Indian dynasties. Jay Hughes’s book Family Wealth: Keeping It in the Family” is a useful introduction to that formality (Bloomberg 2004) as an inspiring tool kit for the advancement of family business and wealth. For Hughes wealth is not money but the developing aims of the family and the emotional and intellectual capital shared between them over decades, which will include stewarding and building wealth but also the personal aspirations of individuals and the family. If families can use their human and intellectual capital to their fuller potential, then the business has a vastly better chance of surviving – and growing. Hughes’s proposed and other governance structures are gaining familiarity: family meetings, facilitated for the honest discussion of difficult and substantial issues a family constitution of rules governing how business and family interact, including a framework for employment and recruitment into the business, the role of outsiders and the structure of ownership and succession succession plans to structure the change in generation creating a family’s mission statement structure for reporting the family’s human and intellectual capital on the Family Balance Sheet and a Family Income Statement – for instance accounted for in a family balanced scorecard clear definitions of roles and responsibilities the development of a family office as a centre of management for the family rules covering marriage, nuptial agreements and divorce and the impact on ownership; increasingly significant as families globalise These structures are only a means to and end; it is the work that families do together to create them through effective communication, mutual understanding and respectful agreement on the future that matters. Have family members worked hard? Are family members just signing a piece of paper or will they really commit? If the former then the family will need one lawyer to design a structure and a more expensive one to get them out of it. The second major feature of the GLOBE study points to the better educated next generation Indian family members offering challenges as well as opportunities. They want faster change, will draw in many more experiences and influences, will have often worked elsewhere and are unlikely to want to wait. They may drive profitability and expansion. Equally, tensions between generations may cause severe damage. Ramachandran suggests that the success of the few 4th generation Indian families is founded on focus on long term family wealth that averts green field risk, but diversifies and experiments with caution. The process of bringing the next generation into the business should take years, with a careful education emphasising responsibility and choices for the next generation and respect and recognition for the older one. Research by Professor John Van Reenan (Keeping family-owned firms family-run from one generation to the next can be bad for business, Bloom, Nick and Sadun, Raffaella and Van Reenen, John LSE2011) demonstrates that succession selection should be on merit, not primogeniture otherwise poorer performance is a norm. Today India’s business families have a greater global presence. To best support them as families short courses, articles and books (for instance Ivan Lansberg’s Succeeding Generations or Randel Carlock’s Strategic Planning for the Family Business) are a useful introduction. There is now a much wider access to family business professional development. Advising families in business on governance and succession is as specialist as taxation, treasury or forensic accounting. Gaining the necessary competencies should be taken as seriously by any firm wishing to increase the wealth of family clients. Skills gained, in the family business advisory discipline, nothing beats practice to analyse and support the individual circumstances of each family. Remember where we came in, no family business is identical. Reproduced with permission of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners www.step.org

Martin and Tracy Hamilton are the owners of Mash Direct, a family-owned farming and food production enterprise launched in 2004 in County Down, Northern Ireland. With six generations of farming expertise, Mash Direct provides quick-serve vegetable and potato dishes to local and UK markets. In this video they discuss how they run their family business along with their sons Lance and Jack, sharing their insights into how they combine their individual skills to create an award-winning business.

Cavanagh Free Range Eggs is a friendly family run business established since March 2012 and based in the beautiful lakelands of County Fermanagh. They are dedicated to providing the best possible environment for their hens and ultimately produce great quality free range eggs. John and Eileen Hall, owners of Cavanagh Free Range Eggs, explain how they successfully diversified their farm to create and grow a business.

At Fluffetts Farm, they are passionate about great food and have been supplying the finest eggs without compromising on the welfare of their chickens for the past 20 years. They believe genuine free range eggs should be produced the traditional way; by small carefully managed flocks. Being true to their values means a commitment exclusively to the free range sector. Their hens live on two independent family run farms on the edge of the New Forest and on Cranborne Chase. The girls lay their eggs, take shelter and roost in airy well-ventilated mobile houses and every day are free to explore acres of grassland on free draining gravel and chalk soils. Eggs are hand collected twice a day and batch graded by date of lay to ensure customers always get the freshest eggs available. Over the years they have developed close relationships with other local independent producers which makes them uniquely placed to offer a variety of wholesale ranges including free range duck eggs, organic eggs, cold pressed rapeseed oil and a growing range of other exciting produce. With Fluffetts, you can be assured of the origin, freshness and authenticity of your eggs and as a reflection of the level of dedication that goes into their produce, they have established a reputation as number one choice for those who expect the best. They really are a family business producing ‘clucking good eggs!’ Find our more at www.fluffettsfarm.co.uk