Family constitution to manage family firms’ agency conflicts

This research examines the effectiveness of Family Constitution or Family Protocol agreements in mitigating each type of agency conflict in family firms. We performed a qualitative analysis, through a case study, and found that the succession process is the main driver for implementing this family governance mechanism. Our findings also show that a family constitution is useful in reducing three of the four agency conflicts described in the literature, specifically between family owners and managers, between family shareholders, and with the family at large. Key agreements include training and experience terms for family members to join the firm, transfer clauses of shares inter-vivos and causa mortis, and the development of family governance bodies. However, creditors are generally unaware of the protocol’s existence, hindering its potential positive effects, which has important implications for practitioners. Creditors point out its potential usefulness as a hint of orderly and structured continuity of the business. JEL CLASSIFICATION G32, G34, L21, M10

Family Constitution and Business Performance: Moderating Factors

This study analyzes the relationship between implementing a Family Constitution (Protocol) and future family business performance. We analyze a unique sample of 530 Spanish family businesses. Half of these firms received financial aid from the government to implement a Family Protocol during 2003-2013. The analysis reveals that family businesses that implemented a Family Constitution had significantly improved performance within 2 years after the implementation. The positive relationship between the implementation of a Family Constitution and future firm performance is stronger for firms that had a nonfamily CEO, had multiple family owners, or were controlled by later generations.

SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF MEANINGS ABOUT PREGNANCY-MOTHERHOOD AMONG ADOLESCENTS

ABSTRACT This study aimed to comprehend the social construction of meanings about pregnancy-motherhood among pregnant adolescents. An explicative study, conducted in 2014, with 12 adolescents, using individual and group interview, local context observation, consultation of documents and precepts of Fairclough's Critical Discourse Analysis. The meaning of compatibility between pregnancy and adolescence was found, and the contraposition to the dominant discourse of adolescent pregnancy as a problem. The event answered that to which teenagers projected for themselves, in a restricted context of social opportunities. They valued it as a social ideal of maternity and family constitution, foreseeing social recognition, evidence of femininity and greater power and autonomy. However, these gains showed themselves crossed by difficulties seen, such as confronting the family evaluation and the "painful" parity. The comprehension contextualized of these meanings and of the social and ideological content is essential to the development of a higher degree of autonomy-accountability of adolescents.

PN Rao Fine Suits: nine decades of family business

Subject area Entrepreneurship, family business. Study level/applicability MBA, executive MBA Case overview PN Rao Fine Suits, famously known as the “best tailors” for men's suits and groom wear, started with their first shop in 1923 as a small business of a tailoring shop catering to the needs of the British ladies in Bangalore, India, and by 2013, had four showrooms spread across Bangalore and Chennai, with an annual turnover of INR360 million. Over the years, the patrons of PN Rao have grown not only in Bangalore but across the globe, from countries such as the USA, the UK, Germany, Japan, Denmark, Sweden and The Netherlands. The PN group had three business arms: the PN Rao showrooms, Rupasi and PN Rao Creations. This family business has survived nine decades in business, with the third generation of family now actively involved in the operations and expansion of the business. Chandramohan Pishe and Machender Pishe, the second-generation brothers in the business, believe in a conservative growth path for their brand, compared to the third-generation cousins, Naveen Pishe and Ketan Pishe. Naveen and Ketan are aware of the market opportunities and the competition and often look for the differentiator that their brand can offer. They are very enthusiastic about their future expansion plans and would like to open 100 showrooms by 2023, their centennial year. The market indicators are favourable and, if leveraged strategically, do offer opportunities to fulfil their expansion plans. Naveen and Ketan firmly believe in the need of instituting a family constitution as they move forward with their expansion plans. The second generation is not very confident of this idea, however, as they believe the family values to be strong enough to continue in the same fashion. Expected learning outcomes Understand the challenges of a small business and the importance of re-inventing by leveraging a mix of market opportunities to grow and sustain; to evaluate the need and importance of family constitution at the PN Rao Group to sustain, scale and govern in a manner so as to avoid any kind of future family business conflicts. supplementary materials teaching notes are available for educators only. please contact your library to gain login details or email [email protected] to request teaching notes.