The Dragon Network: Inside Stories of the Most Successful Chinese Family Businesses

Chapter 12

The Future of Overseas Chinese Family Businesses: Toward a More Global Management Style

Globalization, rapid development of ICT, increasing competition, and the growing influence of Generation Y has brought tremendous change in almost all aspects of life, including in the field of business management. Today, there are more business opportunities as more and more countries open up their economy so that there are fewer barriers on trade and investments. Governments around the world are under more intense pressure to create a more favorable and business-friendly environment to enhance competitiveness.

Learning about business and management practices from successful companies around the world is easier since people can access more information faster than before. Today, many people are interested to learn about best practices from successful and reputable companies around the world, such as Apple, Google, Toyota, General Electric, and so on. These best practices are then often adopted according to the company’s culture, field of business, environment, and resource availability.

Based on our consultation with some Chinese family businesses, we found out seven family business issues that they have often faced. These issues are value conflict, succession, organizational structure, compensation, competence, revenue distribution, and alignment between family and business. These family issues accompany seven common issues that are always faced by any corporation, regardless of ...