This book focuses on the role of the board in family businesses and specifically on processes and topics of strategic importance. It comprises all the relevant topics which need to be addressed on a regular basis such as strategy development, financial management, and leadership. The pros and cons of each issue are elaborated. This is one of the few books which addresses family businesses from governance systems to the role of executives. The diverse set of examples carefully collected by the authors and an in-depth discussion on the topics provide readers with valuable insights to broaden and enrich the effectiveness of governance.

Discusses the role of the board in family businesses Provides unique arguments and solutions for issues of family businesses Presents insights into recession management as part of governance Covers all strategic and leadership matters relevant in a governance context

Autorentext

Hermut Kormann served as CFO (1989-99) and CEO (2000-08) of Voith, a 150-year-old German family enterprise. Prior to Voith, he held positions at Brown, Boveri & Cie. (currently called ABB) and Booz & Co., management consultants. Dr. Kormann has served on various supervisory boards of family enterprises. He advises owning families on issues of owner strategy. Dr. Kormann is a Visiting Professor at Leipzig University (Germany) and Professor at Zeppelin University (Germany) where he lectures on leadership, strategy, and governance in family-owned businesses.
Birgit Suberg is an Associate Professor of Practice at Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University in Suzhou (China). She is also the Managing Director of a Shanghai-based consulting company. After starting out in strategic consulting and project management in Germany, she has worked in China in several leading positions for multinational and Chinese family and founder-controlled firms.

Inhalt
The design of boards for comprehensive tasks and efficient processes.- Introduction.- Exploring the topics of governance.- Modules and tasks of governance.- One-tier and two-tier boards.- Design parameters of a board for family enterprises.- Governance for the lone founder.- Agenda setting:Clarifying the strategic situation and the challenges.- Monitoring: We need meaningful data.- The difficult task of advising.- To create a sense of urgency.- The board's key role during a crisis such as COVID-19.- The board's discussions on topics of family enterprises' strategies.- The key issues of the family enterprise's strategy.- Profits as the basis of strategy.- Investments strategy for stability and development.- Innovation strategy for renewal and growth.- Patterns of family enterprise's growth.- Avoiding unacceptable risks.- Compliance and environmental protection: CSR in family enterprises.- Recession management for coping with economic cycles.- Fighting financial squeeze.- The trade-offs of mergers & acquisitions.- The trade-offs of going public of family enterprises.- Profit distribution policy in family enterprises.- The development of professional owners and capable executives in family enterprises.- Developing responsible owners in family business.- Development of executives in family enterprises.- Challenges and benefits of sibling-consortium in management of family enterprises.- Preparation for succession in family enterprises.- The challenges and benefits of non-family-management in family enterprises.- Professional executive search for family enterprises.- The trade-offs of incentive programs in family enterprises.- The family is the destiny of the enterprise.