The Family Constitution: Agreements to Secure and Perpetuate Your Family and Your Business - Softcover

Daniela Montemerlo; John L. Ward

Softcover

ISBN 10: 189165215X ISBN 13: 9781891652158

Publisher: Family Enterprise Publishers, 2005

Synopsis

The two most effective practices implemented to protect and preserve the family business are “1) to build an independent board to strengthen the business and 2) to draft a Family Agreement to strengthen the family.” This book is about the latter: The Family Agreement. The authors, Daniela Montemerlo and John Ward discuss the three main reasons why a business-owning family would create a Family Agreement. Family Agreements foster the company’s successful development, maintain ownership unity and commitment and reinforce family strength as a family. Drs. Montemerlo and Ward outline how Family Agreements provide the vision that strengthens the resolve and devotion of ownership. They discuss the types of Family Agreements and how each type reflects certain assumptions about the business and the family. The Family Constitution: Agreements to Secure and Perpetuate Your Family and Your Business “provides a comprehensive framework for understanding the subject and a thoughtful approach how on to execute it well.” In its pages you’ll learn, the fundamental components of a family agreement, the differences between an owner’s contract, family business protocol, family statement and family constitution, the purpose of family agreements, what comprises each section of a family agreement, why the family’s values and beliefs are important to the process, why the process is as or more important than the content, how to understand whether your agreement will succeed or fail, and the timing and the process for reviewing and amending the document. The Family Constitution: Agreements to Secure and Perpetuate Your Family and Your Business is designed to be useful to those families who are starting down the path toward a Family Agreement, for those who are trying to decide whether to begin or not and for those families who already have a Family Agreement and feel it is time to reassess it. This book will also help those families who have tried to write a Family Agreement in the past but for whatever reason have not finished the work. The Family Constitution: Agreements to Secure and Perpetuate Your Family and Your Business is fast reading with real life examples, practical tips and 25 useful exhibits.

About this title

About the Author:

A co-founder of The Family Business Consulting Group International, Ward is clinical professor at Kellogg School of Management (Chicago, USA) and Wild Group Professor of Family Business at IMD (Lausanne, Switzerland). Ward teaches strategic management, business leadership and family enterprise continuity. He is an active researcher, speaker and consultant on family succession, ownership, governance and philanthropy. He is the author of four leading texts on family business, Keeping the Family Business Healthy, Creating Effective Boards for Private Enterprises, Strategic Planning for the Family Business (with Randel Carlock) and Perpetuating the Family Business. He is also co-author of a collection of booklets, The Family Business Leadership Series, each focusing on specific issues family businesses face. Ward graduated from Northwestern University (B.A.) and Stanford Graduate School of Business (M.B.A. and Ph.D.). He is the co-director of The Center for Family Enterprises at Kellogg and currently serves on the boards of several companies in the U.S. and Europe. He conducts regular seminars in Spain, Italy, India, Hong Kong, and Sweden. John and his wife, Gail, a Chicago high school principal, live in Chicago, Illinois. They have two adult children. They are active in community and educational activities and enjoy family travel.

Review:

“Anyone concerned about their family business should read it, even if they have not yet planned a family constitution.” --Michele Alessi Anghini, CEO, Alessi Spa, February 01, 2005

“This book will be of value to those about to develop or revisit a family agreement or constitution” --John Varley, Non-family CEO,The Clinton Devon Estates, February 1, 2005

“The book provides an insight to a structured way of creating a family constitution which addresses all possible issues.” --Rohit George, A.V. George Group of Companies, February 1, 2005

About this edition

• Publisher: Family Enterprise Publishers
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 189165215X
• ISBN 13: 9781891652158
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 79