Publications

February 20, 2014
Article

How to Thrive While Leading a Family Business

By: Josh Baron and Rob Lachenauer

This article explores the differences between family business executives who thrive and those who struggle. It discusses how family business environments are inherently complex due to the intertwinement of work and life. Thriving leaders exhibit four key behaviors:... View Details

Keywords: Family and Family Relationships; Work-Life Balance; Family Ownership; Outcome or Result; Leadership Style

Program

Rising Generation in the Family Enterprise

Summary As a member of a family with a significant business legacy, you may feel both incredibly lucky and weighed down with responsibility. How can you best deploy your talents, capabilities, View Details

July 24, 2013
Article

Family Business: How to Spot a Patriarch Problem

By: Josh Baron and Rob Lachenauer

In this article, the authors discuss the concept of a "problem patriarch" in family businesses, using the example of Carl, a successful leader who undermined the talent he hired. Carl started a struggling $10 million automotive parts distributor and turned it into a $2... View Details

Keywords: Leadership Style; Family Business; Transition

February 2023
Case

All Options on the Table: The Haber Family

By: Lauren Cohen, Grace Headinger and Juan Ruiz

Frida Jassan Haber, second-generation Chief Financial Officer of Haber Holdings, deliberated over the right family office solution for their family’s needs. After years of working with trusted private bankers, the family had decided to pursue other options that offered... View Details

Keywords: Latin America; Mexico; Family Business; Financial Institutions; Decision Making; Fashion Industry; Financial Services Industry; Latin America; Mexico

Read the full paper: Household Bargaining and Excess Fertility: A Study in Zambia

Read the background: View Details

01 Oct 2016
Blog Post

Reflections on the Peek Weekend Family Business Cohort

Peek has changed a lot since its founding in 2015! Please visit the Peek website for the most up to date information on dates, registration, and program events. Last summer I participated in the Peek Weekend View Details

May 11, 2020
Article

Steer Your Family Businesses Through an Unplanned Transition

By: Josh Baron and Nick Di Loreto

In a perfect world, family businesses will transition leadership from one generation to the next along a predictable and well-planned process — whether that’s determined within the business, the ownership group, or the family itself — passing the baton after years of... View Details

Keywords: Transition; Planning; Family Business; Management Succession

January 2018 (Revised February 2018)
Case

McKinnon Family Financial Planning

By: V.G. Narayanan and Shawn O'Brien

06 Jan 2015
News

Helping a family business

HBS has given Ricardo Aguirre (MBA 2015) the ability to listen and learn from others, an asset he plans to take back to his family’s businesses in Venezuela. (Published January 2015) View Details

12 Dec 2019
Blog Post

Ignacio Lartirigoyen (MBA 2020) Talks Family Business, Bringing Children to HBS, and Agribusiness

Ignacio Lartirigoyen (MBA 2020) made the decision to bring his family to the United States to pursue an MBA, and strengthen his skills. Originally anticipating a competitive environment, he realized that HBS... View Details

October 1997 (Revised September 2004)
Background Note

Relationships Among Siblings and Cousins in a Family Firm

By: John A. Davis

December 2015
Article

On Wealth and the Diversity of Friendships: High Social Class People around the World Have Fewer International Friends

By: Maurice H. Yearwood, Amy Cuddy, Nishtha Lambaa, Wu Youyoua, Ilmo van der Lowe, Paul K. Piff, Charles Gronin, Pete Fleming, Emiliana Simon-Thomas, Dacher Keltner and Aleksandr Spectre

Having international social ties carries many potential advantages, including access to novel ideas and greater commercial opportunities. Yet little is known about who forms more international friendships. Here, we propose social class plays a key role in determining... View Details

Keywords: Friendships; Social Class; Internationalism; Wealth; Relationships; Globalization

Find at Harvard

July 1999
Background Note

Management Development Plan In A Family Business, The

By: John A. Davis

Defines management development objectives for family members employed in their family business. Outlines a process of putting these individuals on a career path to provide them with needed developmental experiences while respecting the broader needs of the... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Goals and Objectives; Management Practices and Processes; Organizations; Leadership Development; Experience and Expertise

March 2019
Case

Dabur India: Growing Professional Management from Family Roots

By: Suraj Srinivasan, Namrata Arora and Jonah Goldberg

The case opens in December of 2018, with Sunil Duggal, the CEO of Dabur India (a multinational consumer goods conglomerate with a focus in Ayurvedic products) contemplating who should succeed him at the head of the company. The new CEO will have been the first since... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Management Succession; Multinational Firms and Management; Business Growth and Maturation

December 2024
Supplement

Trust and Family at Fuwei (B): Ethan Yang's Perspective

By: Letian Zhang, Wenjie Ma and Jiaqi Jin

Video

Ignacio Lartirigoyen (MBA 2020) Talks Family Business, Bringing Children to HBS, and Agribusiness

May 2018
Article

Managing the Family Firm: Evidence from CEOs at Work

By: Oriana Bandiera, Renata Lemos, Andrea Prat and Raffaella Sadun

We present evidence on the labor supply of CEOs and on whether family and professional CEOs differ on this dimension. We do so through a new survey instrument that allows us to codify CEOs’ diaries in a detailed and comparable fashion and to build a bottom-up measure... View Details

Keywords: Performance Productivity; Family Ownership; Management