New York SBDC Research Network

Running a family-owned business certainly has it's appeals and drawbacks. Working day-in and day-out with your closest relatives creates the opportunity for honest dialogue and a wonderful team environment where everyone knows their duties. It can also lead to disagreements over minute business decisions, constant bickering both at work and at home, and in a worst case scenario, even the failure of the business. Below are a few articles I have read recently that discuss owning a family-owned business and how to work AND get along with your family. Family Business - Something Has to Change, So Do It (Baltimore Business Journal) Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? (Inc.) Running a Family Business is Tricky, But You Can Do It (USA Today)

From the International Finance Corporation (World Bank) newsletter: Family businesses constitute the world’s most dominant form of business organizations, playing a key role in economic growth and employment generation in many developing countries. Yet, most have a short life span and about 95 percent do not survive the third generation of ownership. A new book from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Family Business Governance Handbook , recommends ways to help family businesses improve their sustainability by establishing good governance practices. It highlights corporate governance challenges facing family businesses and proposes structures and practices that can help mitigate them.

In today's online Wall Street Journal there's a brief article titled " Wait to Work for Family ". We sometimes get inquiries regarding succession planning from small business owners who, upon retirement, hope to keep things in the family. This article suggests that grown children are likely more effective - and more confident in their decision-making - if they don't join the business right out of school. It's obvious - small businesses kept in the family stand a better chance of survival if the next generation is as motivated as those who founded it.