Family Business: Bump & Beyond

1. How would you describe the financial performance of your family business?   Our financial performance has substantially improved over the past 10 years. An investment made by our businesses has improved our financial performance and has allowed us to have multiple income streams (production and sales distribution).

1. How would you describe the culture of your family’s business?   In our family especially in my mother’s generation the bond and relationship between other family members is crucial and more important than anything. Therefore, the culture of our firm is similar, we are family-centered and our main goal is to provide the best possible life for the family. This encourages us to make decisions that will lead to organisational and financial success which in the end will benefit the family.v

No, my family business does not currently have a succession plan in a formal sense. Whilst we do have an informal plan that is not written down, in which me and my siblings are to be become the board in the future, and myself as CEO, the plan is not literal and does not take into the account of the feelings of my siblings who do not want to be part of the business. While this does not create tension, as my father, the current MD, wants his children to explore work that they find is in their interests, the lack of clarity about the future of the business, given the current state of the business, which is resulting in my father deciding if he wants to retire early, could mean there is tension in trying to find a succesor who is part of the family. However, to try to stop this, I have taken on more work within the family business and had a conversation with my father about my interest in becoming the succesor to his role. While having no succesion plan does create some operational problems within the business, ensuring that the successor to my father is the current one, with the right skills, is essential to ensure the viability and contiuation of the business. This therefore suggests that in the short term, allowing different family members to expiercne the internal board functions and what the role entails, could be a positive way to find the long term successor.