PASSING THE FAMILY BUSINESS TO THE NEXT GENERATION - IS IT THE BEST CHOICE?

Written by Dave Kauppi


As Penn State professor William Rothwell ominously points out inrepparttar forward to Exit Right: A Guided Tour of Succession Planning for Families in Business Together, more than 40% ofrepparttar 110975 people who runrepparttar 110976 closely held operations that comprise 80% ofrepparttar 110977 North American economy will retire by 2007. It makes me wonder, what is going to happen to all of those businesses? Although it is a noble gesture, passing a business down torepparttar 110978 next generation is more often than not, unsuccessful. In fact, statistics show that only one-third of all family businesses are successfully transferred torepparttar 110979 next generation and only 13% are transferred ontorepparttar 110980 third generation. Many family business consultants sayrepparttar 110981 primary reason for this low survival rate isrepparttar 110982 failure to develop and effectively plan forrepparttar 110983 transfer of ownership and management ofrepparttar 110984 closely held family business. I agree that this is a factor, but in my dealing with family businesses I find that there are some more fundamental reasons. The first is thatrepparttar 110985 next generation has a lot different life style thanrepparttar 110986 business founder and entrepreneur. They do not sharerepparttar 110987 same drive and commitment that dad needed to buildrepparttar 110988 business from scratch. They go torepparttar 110989 good schools, get a taste ofrepparttar 110990 good life and generally do not sharerepparttar 110991 passion ofrepparttar 110992 business founder. I recently was involved in selling a produce distributor. I found that most ofrepparttar 110993 firms were in their second or third generation. I asked a third generation owner why this particular industry had such success with keepingrepparttar 110994 business inrepparttar 110995 family. He said, “When you are up and onrepparttar 110996 docks at 3 am and work 12 hour days, you don’t haverepparttar 110997 time to spendrepparttar 110998 money.” The next generation may have a grand scheme to turnrepparttar 110999 traditional printing business into a media empire or a liquor business into an entertainment enterprise. A few years backrepparttar 111000 second generation of a well known Chicago area computer leasing and IT Services Firm tried to turn it into an Internet Venture Firm with disastrous results. Before you just assume that your torch will be carried byrepparttar 111001 next generation, make sure thatrepparttar 111002 next generation even wants to runrepparttar 111003 business. Imaginerepparttar 111004 loss in value that would have occurred ifrepparttar 111005 real estate billionaire fromrepparttar 111006 western suburbs had turned his empire over to his son who simply wanted to produce plays.

The Magic of Design

Written by Melody Foster


There was a time people thoughtrepparttar world was flat. At another point in history it was believed that women didn’t haverepparttar 110974 know-how to run a business or change a tire. Then there wasrepparttar 110975 one about man not being able to fly. Over time all of these fairytales have proven untrue.

So it is with interior design. Until recently, many people heldrepparttar 110976 belief that having their home decorated by an interior designer was reserved forrepparttar 110977 rich and famous. Nothing could be further fromrepparttar 110978 truth.

Fact is, many people of average income who live in a middleclass neighborhood are frequently surprised to learn they can easily affordrepparttar 110979 services of an interior designer. In other cases, many folks prefer to learn tips about design so they haverepparttar 110980 flexibility to redo a room on a whim. Either way, you have more choices today then ever before.

It is not uncommon to completely redo a room for a one time social event such as a birthday celebration, a graduation or a wedding. With some simple tips, evenrepparttar 110981 most inexperienced person can easily spruce up a room.

Before you begin, think aboutrepparttar 110982 style you are interested in. Is it art deco, traditional, Mediterranean, western, modern, or contemporary? These are only a few ofrepparttar 110983 multitude of choices you have. Think through how functionalrepparttar 110984 room will be with what you have in mind. Avoid rugs and chairs that stain easily if there will be a lot of traffic inrepparttar 110985 room.

Be very careful to scale your furniture torepparttar 110986 size ofrepparttar 110987 room. If you have a very large space you can break uprepparttar 110988 area into little sitting groups or area groups. You can easily shiftrepparttar 110989 “feel” of a room withrepparttar 110990 use of lighting and/or plants. Area rugs are another tool many designers use to break up large spaces. A variety of paint colors and wall textures can make evenrepparttar 110991 most mundane room come to life.

Cont'd on page 2 ==>
 
ImproveHomeLife.com © 2005
Terms of Use