What Common Attributes Are Found in Family Businesses?

On February 16th, we hosted our monthly Roundtable with Family Business Leaders and Advisors.  Our featured Founding Member was James Bly from Ernst and Young's Family Enterprise Business Services Unit (FEBS).  James has been serving family businesses since 1982.  He joined EY after they acquired his firm that he co-founded in 1982.  As their Managing Director, James continues to assist families with many matters that arise in family-owned businesses, as well as family-controlled public companies.  After working with many families on issues relating to operating businesses and their operating assets, the methodologies that his company created were attractive to the services that Ernst and Young already provided.  

EY's Family Enterprise Business Services can assist families in growing their enterprise more extensive and more valuable.  Their services can address plans for growth, generational transition, and shareholder liquidity.  

James was kind enough to share several of EY's internal documents with the Family Business Collaboration for members to learn from and use in their business practice.  Of course, James is willing to assist any family business in need of these services through the Family Enterprise Business Services.  We look forward to him being a part of our collaborative efforts to assist advisors with their family business clients, as well as directly with the family business leaders involved with the Family Business Collaboration.  

One of the interesting points that James brought up in the Roundtable was the attributes that he found common in most family businesses.  These include the following:

• Consciously Good Employers
• Tend to Quietly Help Employees
• Support Communities and Churches
• Economic Contributors
• Tend to Have Purpose beyond Profit

James shared the baseline tool that he uses to examine a company and has allowed us, the Family Business Collaboration, to share it exclusively with our members.  Questions that family business owners and leaders need to be asking about their businesses include:

• What drives growth?
• How can we avoid risks?
• Can we improve future outcomes?

Factors that need to be considered include potential growth and competitor factors, transition and continuity factors, and capital funding factors.  According to the FEBS plan, four key areas of focus include:

• Business Growth
• Company Capitalization
• Shareholder Liquidity
• Generational Transition

These areas are well-expanded upon in the plan that James and his team use to work with enterprising businesses.  As a Family Business Collaboration member, you can see the full Roundtable video with James Bly giving a high-level overview of the detailed documents he provided.  

You may be familiar with the EY Megatrends Reports that can assist with your own corporate vision to help determine future needs and adjustments.  The 2020 108-page report can be found with our recording of the Roundtable. However, we know there is no substitute for well-developed advice, especially from someone that has been assisting family businesses for four decades.  More information about James and his team can be found here:  https://www.ey.com/en_us/people/james-bly.

We'd also love for you to be included in the conversation with us by joining the Family Business Collaboration: https://www.familybusinesscollaboration.com/introduction.  By learning from each other and supporting one another, our mission is to provide a digital solution community that models collaboration for family business owners, leaders, managers, and advisors.  Our members are a great resource to establish a relationship with in order to improve your own vision of how to lead your family-owned business or how to advise your family-owned business clients.  

Join Us:  https://www.familybusinesscollaboration.com/introduction