Feature
Issue No. 13 - October/November 2003
Who is Following the Baby Boomers?
In September, the Family Business Association addressed the looming (and serious) problem of Baby Boomer succession.
The people born in the years following World War 2 are now choosing retirement havens—and in many cases, who will succeed them at the helm of the family business.
London—based family business expert Tony Bogod offered his insights on how to survive the handover at the Family Business Australia conference held at the Radisson Playford in September.
Tony, a partner of BDO Stoy Hayward, chartered accountants and advisors, also is chief executive of the BDO Stoy Centre for Family Business, a body dedicated to servicing the needs of UK family businesses.
He says a lack of effective succession planning is the biggest barrier to family business growth.
“It’s one of those subjects that families find difficult to talk about,” says Tony. “The reality is that if you know what to do, it is surmountable.
“But it does involve openness, trust, and good communication skills, and they are features that are not always handled well by families in business together.”
Tony says business owners or founders have a number of succession options available to them – but generally they do nothing for fear they’ll have nothing to do in retirement, they can’t choose a successor from the family (or elsewhere), or they think nobody else could run the business as well.
“The one golden guideline for succession is:...
