Articles

The Government has announced that it is to work with UK business schools and with trade bodies, such as the IFB, to improve the content of MBAs for familiy business leaders.

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The launch of the UK Family Business Sector report was widely reported in national, regional and online media. Here are a selection of cuttings.

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Family businesses are more resilient in meeting the economic challenges created by the current recession, a study has shown. A report by the universities of Nottingham and Leeds, on behalf of the IFB Foundation, shows that private family firms are consistently less likely to go out of business — either through insolvency or dissolution — than their non-family counterparts.

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Paul Drechsler was the first non-family member to hold a senior management position at IFB member the Wates group, when he was recruited in 2004 He answers questions on business and his life.

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Director Magazine: In his montly column, sustainability guru John Elkington focuses on the way family businesses build for the long-term citing the IFB Family Business Stewardship report.

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At times of economic crisis family businessses, like other private companies, can be more entrepreneurial and nimble. Oliver Ralph also looks at other business aspects of private companies.

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Rod Newing looks at ways family businesses can get a competitive advantage over other types of private company.

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Britain should try to emulate Germany by stimulating a cadre of privately owned manufacturers to help re-energise the economy, according to Sir Anthony Bamford, chairman and owner of JCB and IFB member.

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The Lombard column looks at the IFB Top 10 Family Business Survey and observes that the best performers are handling the current economic crisis well. See the final item

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Prof Paul Collier revisits the themes he explored at the IFB 10th National Conference and asks if we should imagine the ideal company as something similar to a family business.

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How Well Do We Manage Innovation? This simple self-assessment tool focuses attention on some of the important areas of innovation management. The IFB will continue the debate on innovation and making the family business adaptable to change at its Regional Forum Roundtable series in autumn 2011.

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In 'Why Stewardship Matters' Tomorrow's Company offers its agenda including the steps that need to be taken by regulators and the government in order to create the conditions in which stewardship can flourish. It looks at how to turn stewardship from aspiration to practical reality in the everyday decisions to be taken by pension trustees, investment consultants, fund managers and company directors.

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The IFB Family Business Stewardship report was featured in both the newspaper and online version of the Mail on Sunday in the Financial Mail section. It reported that family firms are often best equipped for long-term successand and to withstand the problems caused by too much focus on quick results. There was also a Q&A with Ross Warburton in the online version.

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Two days before the IFB National Conference 2011 the Telegraph previewed the stewardship report in an article that also looked at PwC's recently published survey of UK family businesses.

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In a special report on the economic prospects for mid-sized businesses the Financial Times sought the views of IFB Director General, Grant Gordon. He commented on how family businesses had in general dealt with the recession reasonably well because they are 'patient investors'. The report also quoted IFB member Ian McGeoch, Chairman and CEO of M&Co, who reported that the firm is expanding cautiously.

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Research of 1,000 small business owners has found that over a fifth (21%)* employ a family member and of these almost half cited the downturn as a reason for recruiting a relative. This was seen as a positive decision nearly all believing that family hire has benefited their businesses. According to research by insurance company Hiscox which quotes the IFB.

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The article features interviews with women members of family businesses and highlights the IFB research on the higher numbers of women directors in family firms than in other types of company.

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New IFB Chairman, Ross Warburton, wants government to do more to recognise the contribution of family businesses to the UK economy. In an interview with the Financial Times he said that the 'style of ownership is relevant' as family businesses tend to produce more stable growth, steady employment and good governance.

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The IFB is calling for the simplification of the legislation on trusts and for HM Treasury to introduce a ‘family business trust’ to help family firms plan for succession and ensure the survival of the business. Read the Daily Telegraph article on this subject.

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Grant Gordon, IFB director general, was interviewed by BBC News Channel's Show Me The Money about family conflict.

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In its first survey of UK family businesses since 2007, PwC has found that firms remain confident about their competitiveness despite the economic downturn. There are concerns about recruitment and cash flow, but 69% of firms believe being part of a family business has helped it through the crisis.

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The Institute for Family Business has written to Exchequer Secretary David Gauke claiming that the change in capital gains tax could undermine the key benefits of these structures. IFB director general Grant Gordon told the FT that new rules for Entrepreneurs' Relief would 'create distortions that are really unnecessary' for family firms.

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The IFB has written to Mark Hoban MP, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, setting out our views on the proposed changes to capital gains tax (CGT) and its potential effect on family businesses. We have expressed concern that an increase in CGT on ‘business assets’ will unfairly damage family business enterprises, urged against any retrospective changes and called for the CGT rate for business assets to be held at the current rate of 18%.

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In the cover article of Investors Chronicle, John Hughman looks at how some of the fundamental attributes of family-owned enterprises give them an edge over their more widely owned counterparts.

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In Grant Gordon’s interview on BBC Farming Today on February 8th, echoing his comments in his Oxford Farming Conference keynote address, he emphasised that retirement should ideally be part of planned succession process. Gordon also emphasises that the next generation require skills, a level of passion and the support of those around them to succeed. See 3m18s for the IFB’s comments.

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Most of the UK businesses under family ownership 12 years ago have ceded control to outside interests, according to pan-European research. The study of 4,000 companies across the UK, Germany, France and Italy, commissioned by the Institute for Family Business, found that only 30 per cent of UK businesses that were family controlled in 1996 were run by the same dynasty a decade later.....

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Family Firms are still the mainstay of British business. but how can you prevent the infighting and succession issues that often plague them? Grant Gordon explains what to watch out for...

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Although family businesses rely on the loyalty and trust engendered by blood ties, the big world of business is often the school that provides the skills, as Emily Ford finds...

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Grant Gordon, director-general of the Institute for Family Business, has said that family firms in the UK are "a crucial breeding ground for entrepreneurial talent", have longer-term horizons than alternative forms of corporate ownership, and have a collective turnover worth double the private equity sector

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A growing, diverse population and global pressures mean that family firms are changing in the UK. Grant Gordon and Alex Scott from the Insitute for Family Business tell Families in Business what is on the agenda for UK family businesses now and in the future

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Grant Gordon of the Institute of family business discusses lessons learned from a recent research project

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An increasing number of family run companies are being sold off. Robert Miller examines this new trend.

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Family businesses are big business in this country, but we still lag behind when it comes to knowing what makes them tick and how to ensure harmony and profit.

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The Financial Times examines the strong position of family business and their standing in the FTSE 100.

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