Family Business Solutions

How?

FBS has pioneered a 3 dimensional approach to Family Enterprise Governance. These dimensions are Intention, Complexity and Compliance.

Intention

Family Enterprise Intentions

Complexity

Complexity results from the changes that occur over time in a family enterprise. These typically involve increasing demographic complexity in a growing family, dilution of ownership as it passes down through generations and the challenges generated by a growing enterprise, often involving diversification. The amount of Complexity in an enterprise will demand different governance responses, for example a Family Assembly to address the needs of a growing family, an Owners’ Assembly where the owners can meet and make decisions and a Board providing executive leadership that will take the business forward.

Compliance

Each family enterprise is obliged to comply with various legal and other requirements. However, this dimension of Governance also includes the practices that family enterprises opt to import because they feel they have worth. A common source of ideas is the various corporate governance codes that are designed primarily to regulate the affairs of listed public companies. When taking this approach it is important to adapt the published recommendations to the unique needs of a family enterprise, rather than import these ideas wholesale.