Succession Planning : Creating Opportunities

Moosehead: brewing success through six generations

Posted on March 29, 2010 by Kelly Willis

The Canadian Association of Family Enterprise GTA held its annual Family Business of the Year awards dinner on Thursday. What an inspiring evening of success stories from families who have overcome not only the usual host of market and competitive challenges, but real adversity and often personal tragedy to achieve prosperity and longevity for their companies. It was just the inspiration we all needed on a cold grey night at the end of winter at the end of a recession.

There were three presentations from award nominees (more about this in a future blog) and keynote address from Derek Oland, Executive Chairman and fifth generation owner of Moosehead Breweries Limited.

Tags: Canadian Association of Family Enterprise, Derek Oland, Moosehead Breweries, Success Stories, Successful Entrepreneurs, Succession Planning

What to know before you IPO

Posted on March 29, 2010 by John Garrow

Last weekend, I finished reading Rod McQueen's “BlackBerry: The Inside Story of Research in Motion” and thoroughly enjoyed it. It got me thinking about one area devoted relatively little space in the book – the entrepreneur’s decision to go public.

Now, in 300 pages recounting the 25 year history of perhaps Canada’s most successful technology company, you may figure 20 pages is sufficient to devote to the issue of going public. For the record, Research In Motion (RIM) completed a private placement of $34 million to institutional investors in June 1996 (12 years after Mike Lazaridis had started the company) and then completed a full blown IPO in October 1997.

Tags: Business Ideas, IPO, Selling Your Business, Succession Planning

Who's minding the store?

Posted on March 4, 2010 by Mike Vanderburgh

An article in the Globe and Mail by Wallace Immen, “Getting serious about succession” discusses the difficulties faced by many businesses in ensuring there is a process in place to groom future leaders of the company.

What about entrepreneurs? It’s not that simple when leadership also involves owning the company!

Recently, McKinsey Quarterly published an article, “The five attributes of enduring family businesses” which describes the succession pitfalls faced, specifically, by family businesses. According to research, “less than 30 percent of family businesses survive into the third generation of family ownership. Those that do, however, tend to perform well over time compared with their corporate peers”.

As advisors to entrepreneurs, we’re often asked how to ensure there is a smooth transition of the family business to the next generation. I thought the McKinsey article did a good job of organizing the challenge of succession planning into five attributes integral to a successful and enduring transition.

Tags: Charitable Foundations, Family Businesses, Succession Planning