When MBAs Meet Henokiens: What can We Learn from Long-Lived Family Firms?

17 Pages Posted: 18 Nov 2010 Last revised: 4 Feb 2011

See all articles by Morten Bennedsen

Morten Bennedsen

INSEAD - Economics and Political Sciences; University of Copenhagen - Department of Economics

Ludo Van der Heyden

INSEAD - Technology and Operations Management

Date Written: November 17, 2010

Abstract

The corporate world today is changing fast. To survive firms must be competitive, ready for changes, exploiting opportunities presented by globalization, finding finance when crisis hits, and, generally, to be able to adapt to new challenges more rapidly than possibly ever before in corporate history. Given all this, it is no wonder that ownership changes are accelerating, that entrepreneurs sell out more quickly, and that families suffer in the second and third generations more than before. The pace of business plan and ownership changes has possibly never been faster. In such a changing world, it is amazing to see some family firms continue to prosper and survive even when the same family has remained at the helm for centuries. Some families continue to pass ownership from generation to generation and continue to groom new talents that can manage and develop the firms into their 10th generation or more. The Henokiens present possibly the most extreme continuity in the constellation of firms and family firms.

Suggested Citation

Bennedsen, Morten and van der Heyden, Ludo, When MBAs Meet Henokiens: What can We Learn from Long-Lived Family Firms? (November 17, 2010). INSEAD Working Paper No. 2010/81 , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1710530 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1710530

Morten Bennedsen (Contact Author)

INSEAD - Economics and Political Sciences ( email )

Boulevard de Constance
F-77305 Fontainebleau Cedex
France

University of Copenhagen - Department of Economics ( email )

Øster Farimagsgade 5, Bygn 26
Copenhagen, 1353
Denmark

Ludo Van der Heyden

INSEAD - Technology and Operations Management ( email )

Boulevard de Constance
77 305 Fontainebleau Cedex
France
+33 0 1 60 72 42 89 (Phone)
+33 0 1 60 74 61 60 (Fax)

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
212
Abstract Views
1,294
Rank
174,788
PlumX Metrics