WHI Family Biz Matters segment explores the people who have great ideas and decide to “keep it in the family”. We review the issues, ups and downs, complexities, structures, strategies, myths and the legacy of various family-owned and run businesses.
Definition – A family business is an organization in which decision-making is influenced by multiple generations of a family, related by blood or marriage or adoption, who has both the ability to influence the vision of the business and the willingness to use this ability to pursue distinctive goals.
Family-owned businesses may be the oldest form of business organization and are considered the backbone of the American economy. Farms were an early form of family business in which what we think of today as the private life and work life were intertwined.
Statistics:
Family-owned businesses Studies have shown they account for:
- 64 percent of U.S. gross domestic product (GDP)
- generate 62 percent of the country’s employment (about 120 million people)
- Account for 78 percent of all new job creation.
- About 35 percent of Fortune 500 companies are family-controlled and represent the full spectrum of American companies from small business to major corporations.
Family Biz Matters is the premium “go-to” resource for families in business together to help them to deliver on their own dreams and aspirations while helping to avoid some of the pitfalls along the way and learn from successes too. Our primary purpose is to provide useful insights from families and their advisers stemming from their amazing ideas.
“IDEAS ARE CHEAP….EVERYBODY HAS IDEAS. IDEAS ARE HIGHLY, HIGHLY OVERVALUED. EXECUTION IS ALL THAT MATTERS.”