AN ESTIMATED 70 PER CENT of family businesses fail when they are handed down from the first generation to the second. The figures become even more alarming when you consider that only one in ten family firms manage to cascade down to a third generation.
Failure here is defined as the loss of important assets and a breakdown in harmony. My brother and I are third-generation owner-managers and both of us strongly feel the conceits of dynastic romance. For us, this concern is imperative. It should also be of societal interest.
Small- and medium-sized enterprises constitute the great ignored sector of the British economy. They are also the most important, comprising 99 per cent of all businesses. The Institute of Family Businesses estimates three million of them are family-owned, employing 9.4 million people and contributing about a quarter of the country’s GDP. They are, however, a silent majority which does not speak or lobby
