The Connecticut Business & Industry Association (CBIA) launched a new program for family-owned businesses July 18.
The program will offer business leaders a forum to discuss and resolve issues unique to family businesses such as succession planning, legislative issues and ethics.
“Thousands of businesses in Connecticut are family run,” Peter Gioia, CBIA vice president, said in a press release. “In reality, we”™ve been consistently serving CBIA members that are family owned on a wide range of traditional business issues, but not necessarily with a focus on the unique elements that family ownership and/or management add to the equation.”
Family businesses make up 50 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product and account for between 80 percent and 90 percent of all businesses in North America, according to the University of Michigan-Flint.
Previously, the University of Connecticut had an active family-business program in which CBIA ran joint programming. But since key leadership left UConn, the program has been defunct for 18 months, Gioia said in an interview.
Filling the void, CBIA will now be hosting meetings, web seminars, speaker events and opportunities to meet with advisers.
The University of New Haven has agreed to participate in a collaborative effort through joint programming and will also be conducting a family-business survey later this summer.
By the end of the first year, CBIA”™s goal is that 200 to 300 businesses will be engaged in the program and in the future, several thousand businesses. With virtual ways of communicating becoming more popular, Gioia said the organization hopes to take advantage of new technology in order to create a strong and vibrant community.
“There are a billion family businesses in Connecticut but most of them are very small,” he said. “Attending a conference can be a challenge but that doesn”™t mean they don”™t need the information.”
A new website for the program is scheduled to launch next month and by September a monthly e-newsletter will be established.
A local consultant and independent director for private companies, John Santa said he was looking forward to the new program.
“Independent companies and family businesses are really the heartbeat of the economic community,” he said, noting that they”™re very rooted and interactive with their communities. “They bring a lot to the table.”
Yet, mixing family with business is a balancing act and one that requires attention, Santa said. Only 30 percent of family-owned businesses survive into the next generation and 4 percent into the fourth generation and beyond. But if businesses are mindful of best practices and what has worked well and poorly for others, they”™re more likely to succeed, he said.
By participating in a forum for family businesses, company leaders can recognize the dangers and opportunities, such as entitlement culture versus a meritocracy, where people are rewarded for their merit and dedication instead of for their last name.
“Companies that are successful and advancing are the ones that are engaged in this (kind of) thought and activities,” Santa said. “I would encourage everyone to join. It”™s only to their benefit.”
