Family Business

EBS Family Business Club

Nur Bulbuloglu Guillaume Roelandts Amin Karimi Yasmine Burity Elena Sandu Marco Pucci Marianna Sgherri

Table of Contents
1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 3 2. EBS Family Business Club .................................................................................................................... 3
2.1 The Organisation Team ...................................................................................................................................... 3 2.2 The Club Aims ...................................................................................................................................................... 5

3. Commercial Activities and Key Client ............................................................................................. 5

3.1 Key Clients ............................................................................................................................................................ 6 3.2 The Committee .................................................................................................................................................... 6 3.3 Engaging Students .............................................................................................................................................. 6 3.4 Active Role Players ............................................................................................................................................. 6

4. Role and Need of the Club.................................................................................................................... 7 5. Competitive Landscape ........................................................................................................................ 8 6. Network ..................................................................................................................................................... 9 7. Financial Resources of the Club ..................................................................................................... 10
7.1 Functions to Outsource.................................................................................................................................... 10 7.2 Functions not to Outsource ............................................................................................................................ 11

8. The S.M.A.R.T. Indicators ...................................................................................................................... 13

8.1 Timeline for funding .................................................................................................................................... 15

9. Conclusions ........................................................................................................................................... 16 10. References ........................................................................................................................................... 17

1. Introduction
Family businesses create an estimated 70% to 90% of global GDP annually and most of the students parents studying at Regents University have a Family Business. A Family Business Club could be helpful for students to increase their knowledge and for Family Business owners to create a needful network for the future. One of the reasons for creating a Family Business Club at Regents University is t he presence of seven different Schools, ranging from Business and Management to Arts and Humanities. It is a key factor to develop a differentiated network and to create a Team with distinct backgrounds and learning. The purpose of this report is to analyse whether a Family Business Club could be created at Regents University.

2. EBS Family Business Club

2.1 The Organisation Team The EBS Family Business Club is to be managed by university professors with the extensive knowledge on the field they are positioned, with the help of one external advisor and two MBA students. Below is the organization chart of the Club of how the team is perfect for the roles needed and create a perfect balance (see Figure 1 below).
Figure 1: Family Business Club EBS London: The Organization Team

Ed Gonsalves

PRESIDENT and CONFERENCE CHAIRMAN

Rebecca Fakoussa

VICE-PRESIDENT and ENTREPRENEURS ADVISOR

Chris Pickford

MARKETING and INNOVATIONS ADVISOR

MBA Student

EVENTS ORGANIZATION

Jennifer Sinclair

FAMILY RELATIONS COUNSELOR

MBA Student

COORDINATOR

Expert Counselling agency

EXTERNAL ADVISOR

John Diamondopoulos

TREASURER and FINANCIAL ADVISOR

This mix of Professors with different knowledge is important to help the members for every issue and question they could have. Ed Gonsalves, professor of Family Business, has skills and knowledge on the subject that make him suitable for the role of President and Conferences chairman. The choice of a Psychologys Professor is a key factor for RUL Family Business Club because many issues in a Family Business come from psychological aspects in the relations with the other family members, e.g. internal conflicts in decision-making. Moreover, the presence of an MBA student as an organizer of events can be useful for creating events suitable to current and previous students as well as young entrepreneurs who want to join the club.

2.2 The Club Aims The Club will target member from different origins and nationalities with a family business lineage or with the intention to own a family business. The members of this Family Business Club could be current students of Regents University, graduated students in Bachelor or Master degree, MBA students and also entrepreneurs that own a Family Business. The relationship with foreign business owners could grow the brand of the Club and take it in a global dimension. This aspect is very important as it could increase awareness of the Club and introduce it to a global scale. For current students and the Alumni, it is an opportunity to gain significant skills and knowledge from entrepreneurs, professors and peers. During the conferences some entrepreneurs may share their stories and how they managed to overcome common problems in family businesses; in this way they could create a kind of cloud of knowledge about Family businesses to help new entrepreneurs with their start-ups.

3. Commercial Activities and Key Client

The activities will be held twice a month and the events will take place once per month, in order to be more attractive and have better participation rates, events will be held at places that are attractive to our members, it should not necessarily be held at the University. Introductory ad Enrolment Weeks: the volunteer member will present the Family Business Club. If a new student wants to become a member, he will be given a free ticket for the first event or activity. Alumni Fee: in order to keep in touch with the graduates and for continuity of the Family Business Club, graduates will be charged 20 per year which will include one free ticket to one of the events they want to attend. Alumni Speaker: alumnis will be invited to share their experiences with the students. Local Family Business Tours: if one of the members family businesses is wiling to accept the members for introductory visit, there will be self-founded tours according to the availability. Social Networking Activities: an opportunity to meet with new and old members and enlarge social networks. This will be held twice in a month with catering. 5

Guest Career Speakers: a guest speaker will be invited to enlighten member, as they are experience family businessman or a lecturer of family business studies to understand different backgrounds of family businesses. The participants will have chance to ask questions at the end of the speech. With the acceptance of the guest speaker, other Family Business Clubs can be invited with the charge 15. (At least once a year)

Meetings: gather to meet with other Universities Family Business Clubs and can attend to their guest speakers events. Discussion Events: members have the opportunity to share family business topics as well as to help each other.

3.1 Key Clients The EBS Family Business Club mainly targets Regents College both students and graduates within the seven different schools. The students are welcomed any time during their studies into the Club without any fee for membership. As it is an exclusive members club, the members will be asked to sign a form with terms and conditions to receive information about the events and activities. Graduated students can still be members, however those will not receive free tickets. Each event/ activity ticket will be charged 10, however if a member wants to buy ticket at the entrance of the event/ activity the price will be 15 for members. If the event/ activity will open for non-members, they will be charged 30 as well as for other Family Business Clubs. 3.2 The Committee There will be a set of directors including president, coordinator of events, networking and job opportunities. As it is an interactive club, members are allowed to suggest and take responsibility of an event or activity. 3.3 Engaging Students The Club will have a Facebook and Twitter accounts that release events and activities. So that students can be aware of activities promoted by the club and the positive outcomes it has on business performances. 3.4 Active Role Players The main sponsor will be Regents College and its 7 faculties, with the support of other sponsors such as; legal advisors, consulting firms, bankers and alumni. The supporting companies have 6

benefit the outcome for them to have network, build business, advertise their companies and able to discover new talents and ideas from the students.

4. Role and Need of the Club

EBS family business clubs main objective would be to build individuals Knowledge, expand its network and grow in the family business community globally. The foundation of this club is imperative to Regents University due to its unique variety of nationalities as well as the abundant number of students with a family businesses lineage. This Club will aim to provide Regents student the opportunity to understand the dynamics of a family business as well as provide them with valuable knowledge on different management issues. The conferences run by the Club will provide members a safe environment were individuals will be able to discuss very freely an openly issues that can undermine their work as a leader as well as the performance of the company. They will be able to address issues such as how to manage and keep professionalism with older employees who have seen them growing up, specifically the ones who do not agree with their style of leadership and management. Issues such as family conflicts will also be addressed and advise on how to keep low tension between family members will also be provided. It will also aim to connect different individuals within the EBS Family Business Club sharing common business visions of investment and expansion by bringing those individuals together and advise them on the best strategies to implement their work, if they require. This will also work for individuals on different ends of the production line, that one may need the other in order to develop a product or complement a service. Furthermore this club will not only focus on existing family business, but it can help those students who intent to start a family business on their own, providing them with the useful information and networking to can give them the first push to start.

5. Competitive Landscape
External offers could be divided into domestic market (the UK) and International markets (International Business Schools and US Business Schools). Generally, the purpose is to advise students and Alumni about working in a Family Business as a family member or as a non-family member, about launching a Family Business and about specific matters related to Family Businesses (succession planning, wealth management, etc.). These topics are usually addressed through conferences, events or roundtable discussions. It is also worth noting that networking takes an important place in all the clubs. Meanwhile, only few of them provide mentorship and visits to Family Businesses. The repartition between student-run and non student-run clubs is quite equal amongst the clubs worldwide. In the UK, Family Business Clubs are apparently not widespread across the universities. The major one is at the London Business School, a non student-run club, and helps its Masters and MBA students as well as its Alumni to better understand this area of study (see Figure 2 below).
Figure 2: UK Main Competitor

School name London Business School

Activities Conferences; Speed dating (Networking); Networking

events

Internationally, bulk of the clubs can be found in the US while only two major Family Business Clubs are in international business schools (INSEAD and ESADE).

Half of the clubs are student-run, these are the ones from INSEAD, Harvard, Chicago Booth, Kellogg, St. Bonaventure. The other half is more destined to MBA students or Alumni. The most developed club seems to be in the University of Vermont because they organise a case competition, an awards ceremony, foster research and publish a dedicated journal (see Figure 3 below).
Figure 3: International Competitors

School name INSEAD

ESADE UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School

Activities Conferences; Events (Family Enterprise Day); Mentorship (INSEAD Entrepreneurs in residence); Networking Conferences; Networking Conferences; Roundtables discussions; Networking 8

Harvard Business School

Conferences; Forums; Workshops; Networking Columbia Business School Conferences; Roundtables discussions; Networking Wharton University of Pennsylvania Forum; Networking University of Vermont Family Business Case competition; Family Business Awards; Family Enterprise Research Conference; Family Business Review; Networking University of Chicago Booth School of Workshops; Lunch&Learn events; studentBusiness run workshops; Networking Kellogg School of Management Conferences; Conversations with professors; Visits to Family Businesses; Networking St. Bonaventure University Roundtable discussions; Visits to Family Businesses; Mentorship; Networking Whitman School of Management Roundtable discussions; Networking

6. Network
In order to compete within the UK and possibly internationally, the EBS Family Business Club is highly recommended to build, enhance and implement its business network. Anderson et al. agree that in B2B settings, as for EBS Family Club, creating relationships with similar organizations is vital. It has been demonstrated how trust-building processes create a virtuous circle of increasing sharing knowledge and more trust (Thorgren et al. 2011). Given the resources, the members and the structure of the Club, what kind of network is needed? (See Figure 4 below)
Figure 4: What kinds of interactions are expected to be built?

Family Business Club Stakeholders Relevant Network FBC President Classification Network Member X Possible Member X Person of Interest for X the Club Person of Interest for X a Member Person of Interest for X a Possible Member FBC Member Network X X X x
[X = Highly recommended; x = Recommended ]

FBC Connection Network x X x x

Member

It is believed the Family Business Club President to be the main point of contact aimed to build the network needed to advance business skills among students and members thanks to his personal and professional network, expected to be composed by entrepreneurs, businesspersons, managers. Considering than that the Family Business Club will be mainly composed by students from EBS or other Regents University Faculties, their personal network might also be considered relevant for the Club because it is expected them to be aspiring business persons. The further network of both President and/or a member of the Club, might become important connections for future and international development of the club. Using the tangible (i.e. location Regents Park) and intangible (i.e. members skills marketing students) resources of the Club, networking events and happenings can be organized in order to create a virtuous circle of network exploit and creation will be achieved. The main targets of these happenings might be: Big family businesses around the world; UK and international Universities; UK and international Family Business Clubs.

Finally, Regents Universitys other Faculties (especially Psychotherapy) might be a precious resource to be used in order to implement and enrich the EBS Family Business Club network. With a well-structured and wide network, the EBS Family Business Club will have further resources to conduct research, discussions, debate and dialogue on contemporary family business issues. The network will also offer to members particularly to students/graduate with no business experience a wide range of opportunities to be in contact with people who have developed during their career soft skills such as leadership, creativity, cooperation, team skills, flexibility.

7. Financial Resources of the Club

7.1 Functions to Outsource Legal Services This is a controversial issue, but it requires some discussion. Many companies are outsourcing their basic legal needs to companies that are located in places such as India. Some American companies are requiring that their basic legal task to be performed by legal firms who are said to be quite efficient and fast. Such legal duties consist of processing legal documents, researching 10

legal codes, or drafting contracts. If that is not enough to convince you, companies such as DuPont, Morgan Stanley, and Cisco Systems were said to have successfully outsourced their legal departments to an outsourcing firm permanently. Not to mention, these firms are all located in India.

Accounting or Bookkeeping Services There are many accounting firms that offer outsourcing capabilities that are both convenient and economical. These firms can do everything from pay vendors, invoice clients, pay employees, prepare quarterly payroll/sales tax reports, and provide online access to all of your information. You are also assigned a representative to your account, in which you can contact if you have any questions.

IT Outsourcing you IT needs is a great way to save on cost and office space. Instead of hiring an IT department, you can hire an IT firm who would be able to perform the same services as your employees would. Now, with the advancement of technology it makes it even easier to perform and manage IT issues remotely. Most outsourcing firms provide both onsite and remote monitoring, desktop support services, hardware/software updates, training, and technical support. 7.2 Functions not to Outsource Outsourcing Relationship Governance In the market for business services outsourcing, some advisory firms have recently begun trying to convince buyers that they, as experts, can govern their clients outsourcing relationships. Governance is still one of the most underestimated and undervalued elements of outsourcing, with the result that many buyers do it poorly or not at all. However, handing over responsibility for governing your relationships to any type of third party is a dangerous and very slippery slope. When a company decides to outsource, they transfer responsibility for performing the process to a service provider but they still retain accountability for the process itself. As a result, one of the given costs of outsourcing is that you need to invest in sufficient resources and knowledge to govern the provider effectively. In effect, you need to replace a service with a core expertise. 11

By handing-off governance to another party, you are in effect removing all accountability for that service from your organization. Your outside advisor is never going to govern your relationships with the same understanding of your best interests, and you are ultimately creating the environment for three way finger-pointing about who is accountable when things go wrong.

Program Management Offices In the market for business transformation management, some outsourcers now claim that Program Management Offices (PMOs) can be outsourced. Certainly many providers have program and project management skills, and it can be tempting to let them manage a function which is often not predictable or consistent. Many companies are also not confident in their program management capabilities. However, accountability for managing large-scale or a large numbers of projects should never be completely transferred to a third-party. For a single major program like an ERP implementation, a buyer must ensure that all decisions being made are in their best interests. For multiple projecttype PMOs, priority decision-making and accountability for selected projects is closely tied to the overall business strategy and must always remain a core competency. If skills are a concern, contract experienced independent consultants to co-manage your PMO with your staff for a period of time. That way, all of the people driving the program are directly accountable to you and the independent consultant brings an objective view on the performance of your major service provider(s) while at the same time transferring knowledge to your staff for the future.

Outsourcing Lean Program Management Finally, in the area of lean operations management, there are offers by some consulting and service provider firms to provide a complete managed service for their clients' six -sigma or other brand of lean corporate improvement program. This would include not just the traditional implementation and training support services, but the ongoing management and tracking of the overall program. Adopting a lean program is a strategic decision that companies make when they recognize the importance of having a standard methodology for solving problems and managing improvements 12

within their business. Study after study has demonstrated that successful implementations result when the chosen standard has become imbedded within the culture and fabric of the organization, and all types of improvement projects use the most appropriate tools and methods in each situation. Although outside help is often needed for expertise and additional training capacity during the initial deployment, the responsibility for owning and managing the program needs to reside within the organization and investments need to be made to build the skills to manage and evolve it over time. By letting a third party manage their lean improvement, leadership is effectively telling the organization that they are not committed to the program for the long-term. And the service provider is inherently incanted to find opportunities to train more people or develop the program beyond the point where it is providing additional value that is in the best interest or needs of the company.

8. The SMART indicators

SMART is an acronym, giving criteria to help in the setting of goals. The most important advantage of SMART objectives is that they are easy to apply and to understand, in this way, you can be sure that they have been done. A new organization, such as a Family Business Club needs to follow this method in order to be successful: in fact, we have to remember the importance of objectives and the difficulty in setting them, especially for an organization in its early stages. Ideally speaking, each goal should be: SPECIFIC MEASURABLE ASSIGNABLE REALISTIC TIME-RELATED

The first criterion means that an organization needs a specific objective rather than a more general one. The goal has to be clear and unambiguous. A specific goal will usually answer the following questions: WHAT 13

WHY WHO WHERE WHICH

Considering the EBS Family Business Club, the specific goal is the creation of a network for people interested in family business issues. This goal is extremely important in order to help family business to survive in the current environment. Students, professors, alumni and family business owners make up the Club. The headquarters are Regents University where most of the activities take place. With real support individuals will be able to join the Club and take the most out off it. The second criterion means that an organization needs concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the accomplishment of the goal. If an objective is not measurable, it is not possible to know whether an organization is making progress or not. A measurable goal will usually answer the following questions: HOW MUCH HOW MANY

Considering our Family Business Club, the measurable goal is the affluence to the club: the more people are interested to participate, more effective would be the results achieved through its activities. The massive affluence could be an indicator of the networks growth. The third criterion means that an organization should define who would do what in order to achieve its specific goals. An assignable goal will usually answer the following question: WHO WILL DO IT

The assignable goal is the definition of peoples task in order to reach the related objectives. For example, the team will create conferences and events that should help to put students in touch with family business entrepreneurs. The forth criterion means that an organization should focus on realistic and achievable objectives. A realistic goal will usually answer the following question: IS THE GOAL POSSIBLE OR IMPOSSIBLE

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The realistic goal is the possibility to receive a concrete support in order to build a new family business or to run a pre-existent family business. The Club should create a network between students and business owners in order to share their knowledge about family businesses. The fifth criterion means that an organization should build goals within a time frame, giving them a target date. A commitment to a deadline helps an organization to focus its efforts on achieving the goal on or before the due date. A time-bound goal will usually answer the following question: WHEN

A time-related goal is the creation of a large network of people within one year. Reaching this goal within one year, the Club will be able to help concretely its members. During this year, the Club should find also some sponsors and other investors in order to develop the Club. A sponsor should invest in the Family Business Club to provide funds for the events. 8.1 Timeline for funding See the charter below about the timeline for funding (see figure 5).

1 month

Outlining a business plan Estimating personal savings Estimating University savings Searching for investment angels Legal services
Processing documents Researching legal codes Drafting contracts

3 month s 6 month s 1 year

Website creation First event to attract sponsors Defining sponsors contracts

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9. Conclusions
As an outcome of the above analysis, the major opportunities and threats related to the creation of a Family Business Club at Regents University London can be listed (see Figure 6 below). OPPORTUNITIES 1. The majority of companies are family businesses 2. The international breadth of EBS London student population 3. Existence of other schools within the same University (i.e. Psychotherapy) THREATS

1. Do not find the necessary funding 2. Competitors offers (both UK and international)

Overall, the analysis tends to demonstrate that the creation of a Family Business Club at Regents University would have many positive impacts. Obviously, members of the club would benefit from the club but also students and Alumni, professors, staff and the reputation of EBS London, and a fortiori of Regents University. The Family Business Club would enhance EBS London brand reputation and visibility overseas through extended international activities and events and reinforced students commitment thanks to connections with the real business world. Finally, the already existing network of Regents University London will gain further connections both internationally and nationally.

Besides, the creation of such a club does not involve high financial risks since the funding would remain reasonable and much expenditure could be avoided. Moreover, sponsoring is generally common for business events and, therefore, it would not be complicated to find.

Last but not least, the competitive landscape analysis has showed an underdeveloped field in the UK. Indeed, only a few universities offer that kind of clubs with only one big name, London Business School. This clearly means that a large window is still open, i.e the market is far for being saturated. Therefore, it would allow the EBS Family Business Club to benefit from a competitive advantage compared to entrants by building a strong network with family corporations, international universities and renowned guest-speakers to finally become a major player in that filed in the United Kingdom.

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10. References
- Anderson J. C.; Hkansson H.; Johanson J. (1994) Dyadic business relationships within a business network context. Journal of Marketing, 58 (4), pp. 1 15. - Bergh P., Thorgren S., Wincent J. (2011) Entrepreneurs learning together: The importance of building trust for learning and exploiting business opportunities, International Entrepreneur Management Journal, 7, pp. 17 37. - Harvard Business School (2013): Family Business Club. Online Source, Available ULR: http://www.hbs.edu/mba/student-life/activities-government-and-clubs/Pages/clubdetails.aspx?name=familybusiness - INSEAD (2013): Family Business Club. Online Source, Available URL: http://centres.insead.edu/family-enterprise/family-business-club/index.cfm http://voices.yahoo.com/5-business-functions-outsourced-6311968.html http://www.stratform.com/functions_not_to_outsource.htm http://www.ffi.org/?page=globaldatapoints - Pather C.W., 2005, The dumb thing about SMART goals for innovation, Research Technology Management, Vol.48 (5), pp.14-15. - Bogue R., 2005, Use S.M.A.R.T. goals to launch management by objectives plan, TechRepublic.

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