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20120110 Harvard Business Review

Harvard Business Review, January-February 2012 

Page 26
Avoid the Traps That Can Destroy Family Businesses
by George Stalk and Henry Foley

Trap#1 "There's Always a Place For You Here"
...To escape the trap: Insist on proper training and screening. It's natural for a family business to welcome members of the next generation, and it's healthy to expose them to the company at an early age, so that they can make an informed decision about whether to pursue a career there. But a job with the company shouldn't be an entitlement. Those who want to join deserve no special accommodation. We now see an emerging best practice in which families formally require any child who wants a job to (a) earn a university degree, (b) gain several years of relevant professional experience outside the family business, and (c) apply for open positions in competition with nonfamily applicants. At one European firm we know of, family members applying for a job must be at least 26 years old, have earned a master's degree in business or engineering, speak three languages, and have won two promotions within five years at a nonfamily firm. And they are given only one opportunity to apply: If they're turned down, they must go elsewhere...

DB, SSN057-86-4042,
January 10, 2012, Tuesday,
National Central Library,
Taipei City