How do you preserve your business identity and success through generations? About 70% of family-owned businesses only last for one generation, making entrepreneurs wonder whether there is anything in particular they can do for greater success. The answer is in the strategies that you use. The primary idea is to appreciate that the company will, at some point, be under new management and prepare that new group for success.
This post digs deeper into business planning to demonstrate the best strategies that you should employ to preserve business identity in the coming generations.
Adopt Long-Term Strategies
One of the reasons why companies quickly lose their identities and end up failing is short-term planning. With short-term strategies, your company is likely to encounter major challenges and find it difficult to handle them. However, long-term planning allows managers to install structures and systems to be able to overcome the challenges. This is one of the reasons for institutions, such as the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX), to require listed firms to craft long-term sustainability plans.
With long-term strategies, you can even run simulations to foresee the possible challenges and prepare for them well. This could include installing emergency plans and setting aside resources to address unexpected events. Remember to regularly review the plan and make changes depending on the changing business environment.
Install a Clear Success Plan for the Company
If the position of the CEO, HR manager, or other managerial position falls vacant, is there a person prepared to take over? You should install a good succession plan which ensures that your company has new leaders who understand and are ready to uphold the identity of the organisation through generations. Here are some important steps to follow for succession planning:
- Identify a specific position, such as CEO or HR manager, that you want to prepare future leaders to take over.
- Review the employees in the company now and pinpoint those who can take over based on their qualifications and experience.
- Train the selected staff and ensure they have all the skills to take over the positions of leadership. You can even simulate situations by putting them in charge when the leaders are off.
- Take the new “leaders in waiting” for more practice in other organisations. You can identify partnering organisations to help them sharpen their skills. If you have subsidiaries, consider posting them there to lead but with the primary goal of having them at the helm of the parent company.
Instil Strong Ethical Standards and Values
If you can instil strong ethical standards and values, they help in three ways. One, they help the company to comply with set standards and policies in the industry easily. Two, you are able to win a bigger market because stakeholders are now demanding responsible businesses. Third, ethics comes in handy in helping to strengthen the ideals that you would want to see retained in the company for generations.
One way of reinforcing the ethical standards and values is working with a family office, which helps to bring in more professionalism. The experts are able to look at the business identity and identify areas of interest to grow the company through generations. Make sure that only the best family office is selected for excellent results.
When you open a family business, it is prudent to look right ahead and think of ways to preserve its identity. The methods we have highlighted above can help you to get the best results for long term success. They have worked excellently in the case of Adrian Cheng, the third-generation scion of New World Development’s founder. He applies the skills learned over time to ensure that the company becomes even better.
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