Determinanten van formeel familiaal overleg in private familiebedrijven

Abstract

Sustainability of family businesses does not only depend on the success of the business, but also on the functionality of the family itself. The family can either be a competitive advantage or an obstacle which can cause the destruction of the business. Thus, the success of a business is largely influenced by the way the family organizes itself and its relationship with the business. Because of the importance of family businesses for the economy, and the importance of family governance for family businesses, research into family governance has been a hot topic. However, there has been no explicit research on the determinants of these family governance mechanisms, with other words, why family business decide to implement such mechanisms. This article reports on the results of a research into the determinants of family meetings, in private family businesses. We performed a qualitative study and conducted semi-structured interviews in eight private family firms in Flanders. These determinants were examined on two levels, namely family-related and businesses-related determinants. The results show that a lack of transparency, a lack of participation, a lack of emotional cohesion, family conflict and misalignment of values are the main determinants on the family level that necessitate the need for family meetings. The main business-level determinants were: succession policy, decreased performance, dividend policy, the next generation working in the company and exit policy.