Expanding and diversifying a family business

FAMILY businesses around the world come in many different forms and sizes. Global giants such as Walmart and Ford are prominent examples.

A large proportion of family firms however come under the category of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In this sector firms tend to be characterised by the dominance of the founder or leader and a shortage of specialist managers with decision-making often highly centralised and driven by the intuition of the founder or the leader.

One consequence of this is that the decisions are not questioned or vetted through a rigorous process, hence we often see family businesses taking on growth strategies that are risky in their own right or are unrelated to their core competence, possibly leading to even greater risk.