Mosuo

Following our discussion during the last class and Ed's recent post: here's a system that can be called matriarchal  and it can be found in China. Matriarchy here does not mean that there are no men like e.g. in Alapine valley in Alabama. Mosuo is a small village where women's roles are different from what we are used to: they are famous for their practice of "walking marriage", meaning that women can choose a partner as they wish (as opposed to China on the whole, where arranged marriages are still popular), they are not attached to one family and couples do not live together. They do not have a written language and their economy is most agrarian. But that is what some people call "the last matriarchy". Check it here: http://www.mosuoproject.org/mosuo.htm

Matriarchal Structures...Implications or Examples for Family-Owned Businesses?

Hi All
In our previous class we looked through some numbers, inferences and puzzlements about women-owned family businesses and how they compared to their male counter-parts.
I asked you to reflect here on matriarchal businesses, women-owned businesses and similar business that you know or find out about in your cultural homes. Here's a fascinating Prezi that might offer a few hints and pointers to start you on your investigative journey.
Enjoy
Ed

Succession along gender lines?

As we learnt in class, based on the sample conducted in the US, the likelihood of a female CEO owner choosing the successor as a woman is 31% and the likelihood of a male CEO owner choosing a successor as a woman is 7%. 

I do not feel that it is due to gender discrimination practices because the majority of the female CEO owners (69%) still choose men as their successors.

My question is this, is it likely in a female owned firm that there are more ways for women to demonstrate their abilities? 

I feel that this may be the case because the female CEO creates opportunities for future women based on her first-hand experience of the lack of opportunities from previous experience. 

However, should a female CEO focus on attending to the controversial nature of gender in that way rather than recruiting a successor based on their qualifications alone?

I am really confused on this question and topic in general.

Ed suggested in class that researchers should look at the experience of the performance in those firms in order to draw some kind of relevant suggestion for this set of results. 

In response to Isabell's last post: I disagree with you.

Hi Isabell (and everyone else reading).

I was going to just post a comment on your post but I decided to make it a personal post so everyone can comment and see it. The quota you refer to is called positive discrimination, which is in place and effective in countries, such as the United States.

But what is interesting is you highlight that there is not just a quota to employ women in general to a business, the quota is used to enforce a woman's position on a board as well, which I feel is effective to a certain extent.

I disagree with your point that quotas are completely useless in this regard, as I come from a culture (Nigeria) where women struggle to get to the top. I am not in support of hiring an unqualified woman just because she is a woman that fulfils the quota. However, I am in support of viewing this quota as an opportunity for women who know they are capable of carrying out the job who would never see such an opportunity without a quota.

Yes, your argument holds some weight to some extent but I think you need to look at the bigger picture and take different cultures and their gender struggles into consideration.

Women in business and gender equality

In yesterday's class we discussed the issue of women in businesses, in particular in family firms. This lead to the consequence that I started thinking a bit more about women in business occupying management roles.

The issue of gender in the work life is highly discussed, some argue a female quota is needed others argue against. This quota in business signifies that a certain amount of jobs, also containing positions such as CEO, go to women. The governments of France, Spain, Norway and Germany just decided to impose quotas for women on boards. They argue that equality is one of the basic human rights and they want to manifest this in society.

According to a survey of the Financial News, companies that have management roles given half half to men and women are more profitable than those having more men occupying management roles.

However quite often it is not that easy for women to balance their jobs, a successful career, their families and to bear up against a male dominated environment at work. An environment that is characterized by men taking risks and conducting highly speculative business decisions that lead worst case to a financial crisis.

In particular with the last argument the article makes I don't agree. As Ed yesterday in class said women tend to take even riskier decisions in business than men.

Regarding the female quota I was always totally against it and I still am. For me imposing such a law and forcing companies to hire women just to fulfill the requirement of such a quota is pointless. Companies should be encouraged to hire the best qualified and most suitable candidate and they should be allowed to operate freely.

A couple of years ago the issue of the female quota already came up and at this time the German chancellor Angela Merkel spoke out against the female quota. Now only a couple of years later she gives her viewpoint up and agrees to a compromise.

What do you think about a female quota? Do you support is or are you against and why?

Please feel free to comment and criticize my post.

Cheers,
Isabell

Phase 3 - (Becker Onlineshop: Theoretic Framework)

4. Theoretic framework

The issues above-mentioned can be framed within various theoretical models. First, these issues are general side effects of succession planning processes. Within the succession matrix (Family Business Advisers, 2014) (please see the figure below), the issues can be described with the descriptions:

• !  "successor preparation" and "owner motivation and perspective" (will Laura and Luise feel ready for the serious and time-consuming task of taking over the business - in a male-dominated industry?) as well as
  
• !  "leadership & management continuity" (can Laura and Luise become good leaders and managers, who are respected by the elder employees?).
  The problems are all interdependent factors and thus challenges for all participants.

Figure 1: Succession matrix

The succession planning process is even more challenging if there are disagreements between the participants. This can be well explained with the help of the three circle model, which shows the three main topics 'family', 'ownership' and 'management' and different kinds of characters, who all have different interests (Leach, 2011). For instance, since his retirement, Robert is a 'non-family and non-manager owner', who is of the opinion that women cannot become efficient successors of the company. The elder employees who find it difficult to recognize Oliver's daughters as their future managers and employers are 'non- family employees'. Oliver is a 'family-owner-employee', and thus in the centre of all other participants' interests - one could even say that this makes him getting into a catch-22 situation. Laura is now a 'family employee', who is not yet sure to become a 'family-owner employee', and Luise is till now just a 'family member', intending to become a 'family employee' and then a 'family-owner employee'.
Consequently, out of seven possible kinds of characters, the case of Becker's Onlineshop includes five different roles that all have their own intentions and opinions regarding the succession of the company - which means a large extent of challenges.

                                          Figure 2: Three-circle model

However, in order to ensure a successful succession planning process, the participants do not only have to cope with the varied challenges within the succession matrix, but also all the five different roles' should be satisfied as far as possible. Thus, the so-called family business dilemma that occurs out of the different roles’ intentions must be solved (Collins et al., 2011).
The first issue is linked to the probable successors' gender - from Robert's point of view. According to a Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the often-observed differences between feminine and masculine entrepreneurs taking over the business are as follows (Lingas, 2013):

Thus, this shows that if Laura and Luise took over the business after the previous entrepreneur, Oliver, had been a male person, management might change significantly. However, it is still not clear if it will change in a negative way.
Regarding the issue of Laura and Luise's concern, that the compatibility of ownership/management and family might be impossible, a previous study shows that almost half of female (future) successors do have children and are either in a relationship or married (Smythe et al., 2013).

Figure 3: Characteristics of daughter participants

On the other hand, according to KPMG, for a successful family business' management, it is much more important to learn how to effectively manage the family component. This controverts the conventional three-circle model, as the family perspective has a much greater impact on the management and ownership (Walsh, 2011).

Figure 4: Family circle tends to be much more prominent

This approach is also supported by the Institute of Family Business, which says that between the basic three circle model of 'family, business and ownership' (in the context of succession), there are many emotionally sensitive issues occurring, which should not be underestimated (Institute for Family Business (a), 2008). One of these issues is again 'quality of life', and this could also have a negative impact on Laura and Luise's behaviours in regards to management and ownership.

                                   
Figure 5: Examples of system-transition issues

Consequently, Laura and Luise should not neglect coping with the family aspect in terms of raising a family in the future.
The next issue is the elder employees' respect and acknowledgement towards Laura and Luise. According to BDO Centre for Family Business, this issue often becomes a serious problem if business successors enter the business and get higher positions straight after graduating from university, and this can have the consequence of resentments by employees (BDO Centre for Family Business, 2009). Thus, Oliver and the other participants should find an adequate solution for this, as Oliver does not want his daughters to waste time by working in other companies after studying.
Also Oliver's strong opinion that the business should not be sold, but that it should only be further run by family members, is a relevant issue. His decision process can be viewed from a theoretical perspective as well. Since succession planning is a deliberate process, also Oliver's decision-making process goes through different stages (Institute for Family Business (b), 2008).

Figure 6: Transitions evolve in predictable phases

First, Oliver decided to bring up for discussion the issue of planning to hand over his business to a second generation. He now needs and is ready for a change, as developmental pressures build up (fighting for the company in various court proceedings and against some manufacturers and wholesalers, as the sanitary industry is on the move from offline to online/multi-channel). Oliver has been working very hard for the majority of his entire life, and his age and waning power are the triggers for planning the disengagement from the current situation. He is now in the phase seen in the centre of the illustration, which shows his dream that only his daughters Laura and Luise should become the successors of his company. Probably, he has not yet explored alternatives, and thus, theoretically he could still change his mind, if his dream is not feasible - for instance because Laura and Luise might refuse to become successors. 

Phase 2 - (Becker Onlineshop: Issues)

3. Core issues

Since Oliver is aware of the fact that he cannot lead the company for the next fifteen years, and that he and his family should therefore approach the subject of his retirement within the next fifteen years, there are several issues brought up for discussion. These issues are basically all linked to succession planning.
The first issue is about gender. From Robert's point of view, it would not be a good decision to let Oliver’s daughters take over the business. He believes that as girls, they could never become dominant enough to represent, manage and defend the company within such a hard, male-dominated and often very corrupt German sanitary industry. He worries that choosing Laura and Luise as successors would inevitably cause that business suffers. Robert would prefer the business to remain successful for at least the next thirty years, as he wants his son, Paul, to have a secure working place till the end of his working life, because he knows he is 39 years old now and very happy in his lower management position. On the other hand, for Oliver, this gender issue is completely non-sense. He thinks his daughters are very strong characters and very well suited for this position. Also Paul has this impression.
Secondly, Oliver has the impression that also some leading employees would not take his daughters seriously, and would not accept them as their future chiefs and employers. The reason for this is apparently that these are employees that have been working for the company for almost twenty years, which means that they know Laura and Luise since they had been sitting on their labs as very young children. Laura has already felt this sometimes, which is also one cause why she tries to leave the doors open to probably leave the company after a few years, in case this situation will not change. Oliver is aware of his daughter's doubt whether she could become a character that would be accepted, both by the industry and by the elder employees, as a competent prospective manager and owner.
The third issue of this context is about another doubt of Oliver's daughters. On the one hand, both Laura and Luise would prefer taking over the business, rather than working somewhere else, because they have experienced that it is not just a business, but also a part of their father. Thus, they would be even proud and would honestly try their best to succeed it. But on the other hand, they have also experienced that the business is an integral part of their father's life, as he always works seven days a week, till late at night, never goes on holiday,

and even has serious sleeping troubles because he keeps thinking about the business even when he is asleep. If Laura and Luise are expected to succeed the business as well as Oliver does, they are concerned that they could never start an own family - especially because they are women. When they tell Oliver about their concerns, he usually tells them: "Oh, don't worry. This is merely a question of organisation." But they believe it would be much more difficult or even impossible because they cannot imagine how to arrange such a time- consuming and sophisticated job with family life.
The fourth issue is that Oliver does not want to sell the business, but wants it to be further run by the family. He is very proud of his company, and from his point of view, a reason why he has always been working so hard is also to create wealth for his family, and to establish secure working places like those great management positions for his two daughters.
For Oliver and his daughters, these issues are very serious, as no one of them really has an idea how to come to a solution. 

Phase Four

Here is a picture of what we're supposed to do for phase four. The main idea is to: describe and critique.

Phase four requires all groups to come together and review their individual cases and pick a a case they can work with. From the case your group picks, pick ONE issue (example: succession) and use three THEORIES (lens on reality) that your group feels is related to the issue at hand. Does it make you see the case differently due to the given theories?

Any alternatives for actions based on the theory? There's no real solution (there never really is) but just many alternatives and possible suggestions). You can use SMART criteria for the alternatives.

How can you combine the divide between theory and reality?

• 

Chinese Family business

Chinese t l

Here is a short case study about a Chinese family owned business and how transformational leadership helped make the business a success, as well as, gained the trust and loyalty of the employees how work that the organization. The case study gives examples on how this type of leadership is effective and how it could be applied to a family owned business. As discussed in class many see that charismatic leadership is the better of the two, but here is an example on why transformational leadership is efficient as well.

Succession Planning

Succession Planning for Family Businesses

Succession Planning

This paper talks about the succession planning, mainly focuses on management succession planning and ownership. These two factors are important in any transition from a generation to the next.

In management succession there are 4 key departments that need to be addressed:  Administration and finance, operations and customer fulfillment, sales and marketing.

Ownership successions planning main issues are:

·      Technical mistakes.

·      Planning in vacuum

·      Leaving the business to the surviving spouse

·      The challenge of treating children equitably.

The paper also mention the leadership if effective, usually account to 40% of the company’s profitability.

The failure rates stats

Failure Rate

Here is an article that shows the high failure rates of family business when the transition from generation to the next is happening. It also mentions the usual factors that cause these failures. Furthermore, it gives tips or information on how to handle transitions and come with the best possible outcome.

Here is the link to the article, if you find hard to read the document:

http://www.sfmanagementgroup.com/articles/generation.html