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- June 2024
- Case
PRAN-RFL Group: A Diversified Family Business
By: Christina R. Wing, Paul Wuensche and Brittany L. Logan
The PRAN-RFL Group was founded in 1980 by Amjad Khan Chowdhury, and grew to become one of the largest conglomerates in Bangladesh in 2023. Throughout the years, Amjad established fast food chains, production manufacturing lines, retail stores, and his own foundation...
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- November 2023 (Revised July 2024)
- Case
'Care in Every Drop': Ayala Corporation and Manila Water (A)
By: Debora L. Spar, Paul Healy, Tricia Peralta and Julia M. Comeau
Since 1834, eight generations of the Ayala family have used their conglomerate to fund nation-building projects in the Philippines, including investments in tramcars, telecommunications, hospitals, and schools. In 1997, Ayala’s subsidiary, Manila Water, took control of...
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- November 2023
- Supplement
'Care in Every Drop': Ayala Corporation and Manila Water (B)
By: Debora L. Spar, Paul Healy, Tricia Peralta and Julia Comeau
Since 1834, eight generations of the Ayala family have used their conglomerate to fund nation-building projects in the Philippines, including investments in tramcars, telecommunications, hospitals, and schools. In 1997, Ayala’s subsidiary, Manila Water, took control of...
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- November 2023 (Revised January 2024)
- Case
Votorantim: Uniting Family and Business Across Generations
By: Christina R. Wing, Carla Larangeira and Pedro Levindo
Over a 105-year span, the Ermírio de Moraes family built Votorantim, one of Latin America’s largest industrial conglomerates, and among Brazil’s topmost businesses, also credited for helping “build” the country over decades. By early 2023, Votorantim included...
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- October 25, 2023
- Article
How to Bring an Outside CEO into the Family Business
By: Christina R. Wing and Rohit K. Gera
One of the challenges for a family-owned business is the transition to a non-family member as CEO — a transition most multigenerational businesses eventually face. Onboarding the new CEO is one piece of this challenge. To help make the onboarding successful, use a...
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- October 2023
- Technical Note
Governance for the Family Enterprise
By: Christina R. Wing and Vicki Morton
Governance stands as the backbone of any successful organization, providing the structure, transparency, and accountability necessary to guide decisions, ensure efficiency and foster sustainable growth. Its significance takes on a heightened dimension within family...
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- September 2023
- Technical Note
Note on Family Constitutions
Less than half of family businesses will survive generational transfer. While sometimes this is due to operating company issues, in many cases it is because of conflict within the family. Many families create and adopt a family constitution to proactively mitigate...
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- September 2023
- Teaching Note
Patagonia: 'Earth Is Now Our Only Shareholder'
By: Brian Trelstad, Nien-hê Hsieh, Michael Norris and Susan Pinckney
Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 323-057. Patagonia’s change of ownership from a privately held company to a perpetual purpose trust and 501(c)(4) nonprofit in order to use the company’s profit to fight the environmental crisis and be a model for future businesses.
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Keywords:
Trusts;
Business Ventures;
Business Organization;
Family Business;
Restructuring;
Change;
Disruption;
Transition;
Decision Making;
Ethics;
Values and Beliefs;
Finance;
Financial Management;
Governance;
Corporate Governance;
Investment Activism;
Innovation Leadership;
Labor;
Law;
Common Law;
Management;
Goals and Objectives;
Organizations;
Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact;
Organizational Change and Adaptation;
Organizational Culture;
Ownership;
Ownership Type;
Family Ownership;
Private Ownership;
Social Enterprise;
Nonprofit Organizations;
Society;
Social Issues;
Wealth and Poverty;
Value;
Value Creation;
Apparel and Accessories Industry;
United States
- September 2023 (Revised October 2023)
- Case
Ghassan Nuqul and the Nuqul Group: Preserving a Father's Legacy
By: Christina R. Wing, Lauren Cohen and Alpana Thapar
The Nuqul Group was established in 1952 by Elia Nuqul, a Palestinian refugee who fled his hometown in 1948 with his family to Jordan. He overcame many hardships in his initial years there, but subsequently started a trading business that grew to become one of Jordan’s...
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- June 2023 (Revised March 2024)
- Case
Creating World-Class Board Governance at SECO
By: Krishna G. Palepu and Emer Moloney
In Spring 2023, SECO CEO Massimo Mauri had the ambition to grow the €200 million revenue technology company to a €1 billion company by 2030. Founded in Italy in the 1970s, the family-owned company had gone through a period of growth and internationalization,...
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Keywords:
Family Business;
Business Model;
Acquisition;
Business Growth and Maturation;
Talent and Talent Management;
Customer Focus and Relationships;
Engineering;
Governance;
Corporate Governance;
Governing and Advisory Boards;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Compensation and Benefits;
Retention;
Innovation and Invention;
Technological Innovation;
Going Public;
Strategic Planning;
Business and Shareholder Relations;
Business Strategy;
Information Infrastructure;
Information Technology;
Value Creation;
Organizational Change and Adaptation;
Computer Industry;
Electronics Industry;
Industrial Products Industry;
Information Technology Industry;
Technology Industry;
Italy;
Europe;
Germany;
United States;
China
- May 11, 2020
- Article
Steer Your Family Businesses Through an Unplanned Transition
By: Josh Baron and Nick Di Loreto
In a perfect world, family businesses will transition leadership from one generation to the next along a predictable and well-planned process — whether that’s determined within the business, the ownership group, or the family itself — passing the baton after years of...
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- April 27, 2020
- Article
A Crisis Playbook for Family Businesses
By: Josh Baron and Ben Francois
In a business crisis, the power of family business owners is magnified. Unlike public companies, which typically focus on maximizing shareholder value, family owners value objectives that usually go well beyond financial returns (e.g., family legacy, reputation). This...
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- April 2023
- Case
Burning the Sails to Save the Ship: The Pilati Family Dilemma
By: Lauren Cohen, Hao Gao, Jiawei Ye and Grace Headinger
Octavian Graf Pilati, rising generation member of an Austrian princely family, prepared to sell the palace his family had held for over three hundred years. In recent years, the Pilati family lands had been leveraged as loan collateral for an international venture that...
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- March 2023
- Case
Between Two Minds: The Staglin Family
By: Lauren Cohen, Ronnie Stangler and Grace Headinger
Garen Staglin, Founder and Chairman of One Mind, reflected on his life’s work in brain health. As he contemplated stepping down in the next few years, he weighed how to pass along this legacy to his son, Brandon Staglin, the impetus behind and next generation of the...
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- March 2023 (Revised September 2023)
- Case
Patagonia: 'Earth Is Now Our Only Shareholder'
By: Brian Trelstad, Nien-hê Hsieh, Michael Norris and Susan Pinckney
In September 2022, Yvon Chouinard, the iconoclastic founder of outdoor apparel company Patagonia, announced a new ownership model for his company. Chouinard and his family had held complete control of the company's voting and non-voting stock since its founding 50...
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Keywords:
Trusts;
Business Ventures;
Business Organization;
Family Business;
Restructuring;
Change;
Disruption;
Transition;
Decision Making;
Ethics;
Values and Beliefs;
Finance;
Financial Management;
Governance;
Corporate Governance;
Investment Activism;
Leadership;
Labor;
Law;
Common Law;
Management;
Goals and Objectives;
Organizations;
Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact;
Mission and Purpose;
Organizational Change and Adaptation;
Organizational Culture;
Ownership;
Ownership Type;
Family Ownership;
Private Ownership;
Social Enterprise;
Nonprofit Organizations;
Society;
Social Issues;
Wealth and Poverty;
Value;
Value Creation;
Apparel and Accessories Industry;
United States
- March 2023 (Revised April 2023)
- Case
Shelly Sun at BrightStar Care: The Evolution of a Leader
By: Boris Groysberg, Colleen Ammerman and Sarah L. Abbott
Shelly Sun had founded BrightStar Care, a home health care and medical staffing agency, 20 years earlier and had grown the business to over 300 franchised locations and $654 million in annual system-wide sales. Sun had spent years working to get “the right people in...
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- February 2023 (Revised April 2023)
- Case
Kvadrat: Focus, Execute, and Grow
By: Boris Groysberg and Sarah L. Abbott
Kvadrat was a family-owned global textiles company. The company had enjoyed impressive top-line growth and was shifting gears to emphasize profitability via a shorter strategic agenda. Agenda items included: U.S. expansion, generating improved margins in its consumer...
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- January 2023 (Revised May 2023)
- Case
Learning Resources: Driven by Purpose
By: Boris Groysberg, Sarah Mehta and Heather Poco
In January 2023, CEO Rick Woldenberg must make several strategic decisions for his family-owned toy company Learning Resources.
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- October 2022
- Case
An Heir with No Spare: The Deitch Family Office
By: Lauren Cohen and Grace Headinger
Joe and Matt Deitch, father and son, knew it was time to start their own family office. Matthew had recently joined his father at the family’s three enterprises, and they both realized that their family’s needs had grown increasingly complex over the years. In search...
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Keywords:
Family Office;
Philanthropy;
Charitable Giving;
Family;
Family Business;
Talent and Talent Management;
Entrepreneurship;
Governance;
Values and Beliefs;
Job Search;
Organizational Design;
Organizational Structure;
Family Ownership;
Philanthropy and Charitable Giving;
Family and Family Relationships;
Financial Services Industry;
Real Estate Industry;
Technology Industry;
United States;
Massachusetts;
Boston;
Florida;
Miami
- September 2022 (Revised April 2023)
- Case
Cesaro e Associati
By: Christina R. Wing and Amram Migdal
This case describes the leadership succession planning process at Cesaro e Associati (Studio Cesaro), founded in 1986 by Franco Cesaro in the northeastern Italian state of Veneto. In 2022, Franco was contemplating retirement and passing leadership of his firm, which...
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Keywords:
Business Growth and Maturation;
Business Model;
Family Business;
For-Profit Firms;
Restructuring;
Small Business;
Change;
Change Management;
Competency and Skills;
Experience and Expertise;
Talent and Talent Management;
Entrepreneurship;
Governance;
Leadership;
Leading Change;
Management;
Management Succession;
Organizational Change and Adaptation;
Ownership;
Family Ownership;
Private Ownership;
Personal Development and Career;
Relationships;
Family and Family Relationships;
Consulting Industry;
Europe;
Italy