Family Business Network holds Annual Family Business Network World Summit in New Delhi

Prof. Joachim Schwass, Professor of Family Business at IMD, was in India to attend the summit held in New Delhi, India.

Prof. Joachim Schwass said 70% of all businesses, whether in North America, Europe, Middle East or China, are family owned. In India, around 95% of all registered companies are family businesses or founded by entrepreneurial families. Therefore it becomes imperative that the nuances of relationships be understood and worked upon so that family run businesses run from strength to strength and expand in the global arena.

IMD, a leading global business school (ranked number 1 in executive education, Financial Times, 2008) based in Lausanne, Switzerland, is recognized as one of the world leaders in executive education.
Family businesses are the oldest and most common type of business worldwide. Creating a major share of turnover, employment and tax payments, they form the backbone of our economic system.

With their long-term perspective and stakeholder orientation, family-owned businesses represent capitalism with a human face combining social responsibility with a determination for economic success. Particularly in hard times they play off their competitive advantages. Recent studies show that excellent family-owned companies around the globe outperform public companies in terms of long-term growth, profitability and stability.

Prof.Schwass teaches Family Business and Entrepreneurship and is Director of the Program Leading the Family Business. His main teaching focus is on owner related issues and, in particular, from the next generation perspective. He has lectured and conducted Family Business programs around the globe.Prof. Schwass also had the distinction of welcoming the legendary investor Warren Buffet at the IMD campus. During the summit, he also shared some of Warren Buffets Pearls of wisdom that were shared during his visit to IMD campus.

Courses on family business help the companies in evolving as corporate entities as well as develop robust relationship capital. These would help organizations to improve and learn in a phased manner. These will also help explore the issues of strategic growth, governance structure, culture & sustenance.

Prof. Schwass believes that the values that sustain for a long term are: commitment and caring about people. The four values that give a family business the core edge and propel them towards greater success in the global scenario are tradition & innovation, unity & tolerance, responsibility & sustainable growth.

IMD Family Business Centers flagship program Leading the Family Business (LFB) has featured on the list of open programs since 1988. It is the longest running family business program in the world. Members of business-owning families, their spouses and the next generation from more than 750 family businesses throughout the world have taken part in LFB. Lausanne is considered the world capital of management education for family businesses and is also home to the head office of the Family Business Network (FBN).