Family businesses are built with an entrepreneurial vision that, at its core, has continuity, renewal, longevity and legacy in mind. To realize these objectives requires not only the achievement of sustainable business performance and profitability, but also harmonious family relationships, next-generation engagement and successful transitions as succession comes into play
Petru Sandu’s “Framework of family business professionalization,” demonstrates that achieving this requires varying degrees of professionalization. This is necessary throughout the business’s overlapping ownership and family life cycles.
The complexity of family businesses
All businesses face challenges. What is unique about family-owned operations is the inherent complexity of family dynamics they encounter. These complexities intensify as the ownership life cycle unfolds. This life cycle, originally described by Kelin E. Gersick, Ivan Lansberg, Michele Desjardins, and Barbara Dunn in Stages and Transitions: Managing Change in the Family Business, forms part of Sandu’s professionalization framework.
