Beating the Global Odds: Successful Decision-making in a Confused and Troubled World

All in the Family

Of course one can’t speak of renewing relationships without touching on those all-important family relationships. Most businesses around the world are still family businesses. In fact, I would say that the evolution of (and even revolution in) the family-owned enterprise is one of the megatrends of our time. In Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East, most large companies remain family-owned, or at least family-controlled—and in these regions of the world, trust is primarily built on family relationships.

If we look at older family-controlled companies in North America and Europe that have continued to grow and prosper for decades, even centuries, you will note several things: While the family imprint is still very much there, management talent is mostly brought in from the outside. Families that want to see their fortunes grow see their role as keepers of the flame—as chairmen and board members, permanent sources of capital, guardians of continuity and cultural DNA, but also as hard-working talent scouts for people and ideas that come from the outside. You will find relatively few (or in some cases any) family owners among the man­agement ranks these days in such privately-held giants as Cargill, Bechtel, or Mars (the candy people)—or in such publicly-traded companies with key family shareholdings as Molson Coors, where seventh-generation Canadian brewer Andrew Molson became chairman in 2011 in succession to Pete Coors of Golden, Colorado.

Absent direct market ...