The Key Issues of the Family Enterprise’s Strategy

Abstract

The starting point of any strategic thinking is the question. “What are the needs of my company?”—or even more focused: “Which is the need of utmost importance?” The result of the analysis is the “agenda,” the action program for the next 2–3 years entailing the gross assessment of capital investments required. Specifying the needs is the most important phase of strategizing. Otherwise one runs the risk of working with a high concentration on secondary tasks. This would mean spoiling the most valuable resource: Management time! There are just four broad categories of needs in a company which have a clear ranking of their priorities. (1) Is the company and the owner group stable? Is our financial base stable? Are the shareholders loyal to the company or are we plagued by conflicts or facing an unsolved succession phase? (2) If the company is a fairly stable organization, then the next question is about the sustainability of the whole business line or industry or our specific business model. (3) Only if this stability can be assumed, can we address the normal strategic questions. Here again we have to ask first whether the company earns enough. (4) And if the earnings are sufficient the final question is to be explored: How much growth can we accomplish and where can we find the growth opportunities? In the following section, we reflect on those basic questions.