Dealing with family businesses

Business partners should take care to understand the family in a family business or they may find family businesses too enigmatic to deal with

Despite the importance of family businesses across the globe it is surprising that often their business partners do not know how to deal with them. Business partners —  whether investors, private equity firms or joint venture partners — tend to focus on the business side of the family business. However, every family businesses combines two conflicting sides. On one side there is the business where profit, growth and shareholder returns are paramount. On the other side there is the family where emotions of love, fairness and trust reign supreme. Successful family businesses skillfully navigate these disparate perspectives to achieve both