Sika Nsiah-Poku
INTB 1203
Case 5: Family Business Succession in Asia (Richard Ivey School of Business)
Characteristics of a typical Asian Family firm.
The Wang Group exhibits many characteristics of a typical Asian family firm. Their kinship relationship, succession plan, business continuity and family members hire are all similar. The Wang Group is first and foremost a family-owned business group, which has been active for four generations who carried the business tradition to the next generation. Therefore, the management of the Wang Group is cultured by the family dominance. The internal network of the firm consists of family members who work in the top positions of the company. This is exhibited by the positioning of Wang family
Wang and the outside management team he brought in could not agree on the firm’s mission and business strategy in the end (Family business succession in Asia).
How can the Wang Group become a sustainable family firm? The biggest advantage a family firm has is their commitment to the growth of the firm. The best way to make the Wang Group a sustainable firm is to differentiate between ownership and professional management and clarify this to the firm. They should also embed the culture and values their ancestors built the firm on. From the beginning Charles Wang should have made his employees privy to his ideas of environmental adaptation and why change was necessary in the firm. His idea to bring in the “integrators” failed because his “old guard” employees who were accustomed to working within a flexible and centralized organization were unwilling to change and see things from a long-term management perspective. Charles Wang must first draw a line between ownership and professional management not just for him to understand the benefits but also for all the workers family and non-family to see why this is necessary and beneficial. This will ensure internal clarity and prevent conflicts. One of the firm’s core values was their belief in constant change. This however is not shown in the actions of the Wang Group members, as they want things to remain the way it was. Values much like this one is what has kept the firm thriving through the past