Is It A Good Idea To Pass Along The Business To A Family Member?

I visited Barnes & Noble bookstore in Melbourne and picked up a copy of “Think Like A Freak“, which the Wall Street Journal endorses as “Genius … has you gasping in amazement”.

In the book the question is asked “Is it a good idea to pass along a family business to the next generation”. I was very interested to learn the answer to the question because I have seen that happen in the field services industry and the results in some cases have been very bad for the people performing field service tasks for the firm. Is it best to pass the business along to son-in-law Jason? Is uncle Jake the best person to run the firm?

The author’s comment is “Sure, if your goal is to kill off the business … for the data show it’s generally better to bring in an outside manager”. The author continues to follow that comment up with “Family firms in Japan have a long-standing solution to the problem: they find a new CEO from outside the family and legally adopt him. That is why nearly 100 percent of adoptees in Japan are adult males”.