Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Entrepreneurship and
Micro, Small and UNIT 14 FAMILY BUSINESSES IN INDIA
Medium Enterprises
(MSMEs)
Structure
14.0 Objectives
14.1 Introduction
14.2 Concept of Family Business
14.2.1 Definition of Family business
14.2.2 Major Characteristics of Family business in India
14.2.3 Types of Family Business
14.3 Theories of Family Business
14.3.1 The System Theory
14.3.2 Agency Theory
14.3.3 Other Theories
14.4 Role of Family Business in India
14.5 Challenges of Family Business in India
14.6 Contemporary Role Models in Indian Family Business
14.7 Family Business Conflict
14.7.1 Reasons of Family Business Conflict
14.7.2 Types of Family Business Conflict
14.7.3 Managing Family Business Conflict
14.8 Let Us Sum Up
14.9 Key Words
14.10 Answers to Check Your Progress
14.11 Terminal Questions
14.0 OBJECTIVES
After studying this unit, you should be able to:
x describe the meaning and various definitions of family business;
x explain the role and importance of family business;
x discuss the types of family business;
x describe various theories/ models of family business;
x analyse the causes for pitfalls in family business;
x identify the challenges in family business;
x describe the importance of succession in family business; and
x explain the ways to manage conflicts in family business.
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Family Businesses in
14.1 INTRODUCTION India
In the previous units, you have learnt about the concept of entrepreneurship
and its role in Indian economy. You have also learnt as to how can aspiring
entrepreneur sets- up his or her enterprise. But it is important to know that
there are second or next generation entrepreneurs who have also started
playing a very important role in the running and development of small
business. The next generation entrepreneurs also need to be equipped with
certain hard and soft skills to make significant contribution in the family
business. In this unit, you will be acquainted with the next generation
entrepreneurs, their family businesses/ business houses in which they are
contributing and taking it to a next level. You will also learn about the role of
family businesses in India, contemporary role models in Indian businesses,
their values, business philosophy and behavioural orientation. Besides, there
will be a discussion on various challenges faced by the family business in
India and measures taken to overcome them.
Family business in India ranges from small firms (such as kirana stores) to
large business houses. Many big business houses have started their operations
in foreign markets and are recognised as Multinational Corporations (MNCs).
Business houses play a very important role in the economy of a nation as they
contribute majorly in the GDP of the country. Big business houses in fact,
may depict the industrial scenario of the country. The Confederation of
Indian Industry (CII) states that family business contributes 60-70 percent of
GDP of most developed & developing countries. India is no exception to
it.They play a very important role in socio-economic development of our
country. In time of pandemic like covid-19, we have been witnessing their
importance in providing food and services to the customers. Let us now learn
the concept of family business.
Gallo & Seveen (1991) “a business where a single family owns the majority
of stock and has total control.”
Ward (1987) “a business that will be passed on for the family's next
generation to manage and control.”
Astrachan & Kolenko (1994) “family ownership of more than 50% of the
business in private firms or more than 10% of the stock in public companies;
more than one family member works in the business or the owner anticipates
passing the business to the next generation of family members or the owner
identifies the firm as a family business.”
6RXUFH Sharma P., Chrisman J.J., Chua J.H. (1996) A Review of the Family
Business Literature. A Review and Annotated Bibliography of Family
Business Studies. Springer, Boston, MA, 2-50
The variety of definitions of what constitutes a family business makes
comparisons and generalizations difficult. Several factors are needed for a
universally accepted definition of the family business that Astrachan and
Shanker (1996) demonstrate in their study. They point out that the criteria
used to define a family business can include: Percentage of ownership;
Voting control; Power over strategic decisions; Involvement of multiple
generations; and Active management of family members.
Ernesto J. Poza in his widely popular book "Family Business" defined family
business as a synthesis of the following characteristics:
1) Ownership control (15% or higher) by two or more members of a family
or a partnership of families;
2) Strategic influence by family members on the management of the firm,
whether by being active in management, continuing to shape culture,
serving as advisors or board members, or being active shareholders;
3) Concern for family relationships;
4) The dream (or possibility) of continuity across generations.
By analysing the above definitions carefully, we can summarize that a family
business is an enterprise owned and/or operated by two or more
members of extended families who have kinship ties, management roles,
ownership rights, and financial control over an enterprise. Eventually,
the owner(s) of the family business transfer it to an heir.
i) Family business in India may also be in the form of small firms such
as ………………….. stores.
303
Entrepreneurship and
Micro, Small and 14.3 THEORIES OF FAMILY BUS
SINESS
Medium Enterprises
(MSMEs)
Althoughh existence of Family Businesses is there in the
t society ever since the
term buusiness was recognised, there has been very v less clarity on its
definitioon. There is no doubt that family businesses are the oldest and most
prevalennt form of business ownership. Time and again various experts have
tried to study the characteristics and operations of family
f businesses and in
the proccess various theories have been evolved. Lets
L us now discuss few
predomiinant theoretical perspectives and approaches of family business.
Syystems Theory
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A
Agency Theory
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Other theories
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Stakeholder Theory
People having interest in the firm in some way or the other are called its
stakeholders. Hence all the shareholders, employees, society/community,
family members, suppliers and customers are the shareholders of the
company. In case of family business firms, the stakeholders are by and large
from within the family who are the investors (as they have invested their
funds), owners (as they are the major shareholders) and also the employees of
the firm. The stakeholders outside the family relations largely are suppliers
and customers. In all the business firms all across, irrespective of family or
non family firms, interest of stakeholders should be balanced. Since many
stakeholders are from the family, they should focus on serving interest of
other stakeholders who are non family members.
2) Limited Talent: In family business owners and managers are by and
large the family members. Members of the family may not necessarily be
talented and capable of taking the company’s legacy forward. Attracting
right talent from outside the family is crucial and retaining them is even
more important.
3) Lack of Succession Planning: There is lack of efficient succession
planning, mentoring and developing the next generation of successors
and leaders. Family businesses have to give proper attention to this issue.
8) Too Much Emotional Attachment with Business: It is always said that
one should always be passionate about the business but not be emotional
as it may interfere with the tough decisions which might have to be taken
for the growth of business
1) Tata Group
The Tata group was founded by Jamsetji Nusserwanji in the year 1868.
Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata, an entrepereneur and philanthropist belonged to a
Parsi Zoroastrian priest’s family. Gujarat born and Mumbai educated J.N
Tata joined his father’s trading firm in the year 1858 when he was 19 years of
age. Ten years later, in the year 1868, he started trading company TATA
Sons. Tata sons Limited is the holding company of Tata Group. Tata group
has many businesses running together. In the year 1903, he inaugurated the
Taj Mahal hotel at Colaba in Mumbai. At that time, that was the only hotel to
have electricity. He had two sons Dorabji and Ratanji Tata. In the year 1907,
Dorabji Tata established Tata Steel which was founded by his father Jamsetji
Tata. In 1909, Indian Institute of Science was established in Bangalore.
.
311
Entrepreneurship and Ratan ji Tata, popularly known as RJD Tata is also taking the legacy forward.
Micro, Small and
Medium Enterprises There is no such area where Tata business is not running.With the passage of
(MSMEs) time, Tata group established many companies in various sectors such as Tata
Power, Tata Chemicals, Tata Finance, Tata insurance, Tata Croma, Tata
motors, Tanishq, Titan, tata Tata Global Beverages, Tata Teleservices,
Tanishq, Fasttrack, Croma, Tata Salt, Tata Starbucks, Voltas, Tata Sky, Tata
Docomo, Tata Steel etc. It has its enterprises in defense, electric utility,
finance, healthcare, IT Service, Real estate.
In the arena of online business also tata is not behind. Other than investing in
companies doing e-commerce such as Snapdeal, Ola, Paytm, the group is also
catering to the customers online named as tatacliq.com owned by tata
unistore limited.
Other than their businesses, Tatas are also respected for the contribution in
the social development of the society. They have set the ground for Corporate
Social Responsibility in India. In this regard also, Tata clan is taking the
legacy of jamshetjiTata forward.
2) TVS Groups
The founder of the TVS group Late Thiruvengudi Sundaram Iyenger, was a
man of principles, a true visionary, belonged to a Tamil Brahmin family. T.V
Sundaram Iyengar was born in 1877 in Thirukkurungudi in Thirunelveli
district in present day Tamil Nadu (then a part of Madras Presidency). In his
initial years, he tried his hands with many jobs. He worked as lawyer, in
Indian railways and in a bank. But he had a passion for business. He left his
job and ventured into motor transport industry. In the year 1912, he started
the first bus service in the city of Madurai. In 1923, he established the T.V
Sundaram Iyengar and Sons Group of Companies, which paved way for the
origin of the ‘TVS Group’. A business, which started as a passion of a single
man, evolved into a flourishing family business.
T.V Sundaram has four sons and three daughters. His business was passed on
to his sons. Thus there are four main branches of the company. They have
started companies in fields like textile, electronics, automotive and in places
like Chennai, Mumbai, Coimbatore, Spain, UK, and Iran.
4) Kirloskar Group
Founder of this group is Laxmanrao Kirloskar. This group was established
in the year 1911. Its headquarter is in Pune. Along with his son
Shantanurao Laxmanrao Kirloskar he started working hard in the business.
The company is the biggest producers of pumps and valves. It is known for
exporting them to about 70 countries. Further, ventures were started in the
production of oil engines, motors, electrical equipment etc. Kirloskar as a 313
Entrepreneurship and minority owner producing cars has Toyota for the Indian market. The
Micro, Small and
Medium Enterprises various businesses are handled by the extended family successfully in India
(MSMEs) and outside too.
5) Godrej
Godrej Family owns and runs the Godrej Group. It is an Indian
conglomerate company with its headquarter in Mumbai.This group was
founded in the year 1897 by the brothers Ardeshir Godrej and Pirojsha
Godrej. This group started with lock making business. Adreshir Godrej
was a law graduate. Law as profession did not fascinate him much. He
started to think of doing something on his own. He started manufacturing
surgical instruments, but it did not do well. Then he ventured into lock
making business which is a big hit till date. Now this group operates in
diverse sectors such as real estate, consumer products, industrial
engineering, appliances, furniture, security and agricultural products. Its
subsidiaries and affiliated companies include Godrej Industries and its
subsidiaries Godrej Consumer Products, Godrej Agrovet, and Godrej
Properties, as well as the private holding company Godrej & Boyce Mfg.
Co. Ltd.
6) Reliance
Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is a renowned family business
headquartered in Mumbai, India. In the year 1966 the RIL was founded by
Shri Dhirubhai H. Ambani. It was started as a small textile manufacturer unit.
In May 8, 1973 RIL was incorporated and the company name is conformed
as RIL in the year 1985. It is one of the largest family-owned enterprises in
India. After Dhirubhai's death in 2002, his sons, Mukesh Ambani (Mukesh)
and Anil Ambani (Anil), took over the business. However, as their father
had died without leaving a will, they began to have disagreements over
ownership issues and business governance. In order to settle the conflict,
Kokilaben Ambani divided Reliance's firm between her two sons in 2005.
Despite this, the feud between the two brothers continued. After a series of
feuds, the two brothers made up in 2010. As a result, they did business
with each other's companies and had a very friendly connection, which was
also visible in public. Finally, in 2014, the third generation of the Ambani
family joined Reliance to establish their presence in the family-owned
enterprise. Mukesh's son and daughter, Akash and Isha Amabni, were the
first members of the Dhirubhai family's third generation to be appointed as
directors of Reliance Jio Infocomm (Jio) and Reliance Retail Ventures,
respectively. Anil's son, Jai Anmol, joined Reliance Capital the same year.
Over the years the company has transformed their business and has entered
many sectors. Relaince has entities across sectors like vitality,
petrochemicals, materials, common assets, retail, and broadcast
communications. Reliance is one of the most prominent businesses in India.
In 2004 Reliance Industries (RIL) became the first Indian private sector
organisation to be listed in the Fortune Global 500 list.
314
Family Businesses in
14.7 FAMILY BUSINESS CONFLICT India
315
Entrepreneurship and
Micro, Small and
14.7.2 Types of Family Business Conflicts
Medium Enterprises
(MSMEs) The conflicts of family business may be categorised into five broad
categories. They are:
Work Family Conflict When family members are involved in the family
business they have overlapping roles in work and
in family life. These overlaps increase the risk of
incongruent role expectations and incongruent
work-family conflicts. For example, A parent
interact with a next generation member not only
as a parent but also as a boss and business
partner, which can makes it challenging to know
how to treat one’s relative in any circumstance.
316
6RXUFH Qui, H. & Freel, M. (2019). Managing Family-Related Conflicts in Family Businesses in
India
Family Businesses: A Review and Research Agenda, Family Business
Review, 33 (1),90-113.
1) Hire Wisely: The best idea would be to avoid hiring someone from the
family if they have little or no knowledge about how your business
operates. An organization should hire members who work wisely.
Relationships that are sensitive should be kept aside.
6) Seek the Help of Mediators: Sometimes a family conflict may not be
resolved among members of family easily, so expert mediators may be a
better option to help resolve it through a formal mediation process.
Expert mediators may provide an objective view of the issue and lead the
family members through initial discussions until they reach an
agreement.
ii) …………………. are the family members who work in the family
business but they do not have their share of ownership in the
business.
i) The system theory explains that there are three interdependent and
overlapping systems.
318
development of our country. In time of pandemic like covid-19, we can Family Businesses in
India
witness their importance all the more.
A family business is an enterprise owned and/or operated by two or more
members of extended families who have kinship ties, management roles,
ownership rights, and financial control over an enterprise. Eventually, the
owner(s) of the family business transfer it to an heir. The characteristics of
family business are: managed by family members, utilise in-house talents,
succession planning, management and operations by senior most member,
long-term orientation, mutual influence, embedded in cultural values, and
concentrated structure. Family businesses can be of three types viz., A
Family Owned business, A Family Owned and Managed Business, and A
Family Owned and Led business.
Time and again various experts have tried to study the characteristics of
family businesses and in the process various theories have been evolved.
These theories can be categorised in three broad theories; The Systems
theory, The Agency theory and other theories like: resource based theory,
socio-economic theory, stakeholder theory, and stewardship theory.
319
Entrepreneurship and
Micro, Small and 14.9 KEYWORDS
Medium Enterprises
(MSMEs)
Family Business: A business in which the majority of the stake is held by the
person who has established or acquired the company (or by his or her parents,
spouse, child or child's direct heir) and at least one representative of the
family is involved in the management or administration of the business.
320
8) “Like in any business organisation, there may arise conflict in the family Family Businesses in
India
business which can be detrimental for the health of a business.”
Elaborate.
FURTHER READINGS
x Kenon Alderson (2018), Understanding the family business Business
Expert Press ISBN:9781631575747
x Acquaah, M. (2016). Family Business Theories and Sub-Saharan African
Family Businesses. Family Businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa, 9–
42. doi:10.1057/978-1-137-36143-1_2
x Louangrath, P.I. (2015). Entrepreneurship Theories and Family Business
International Journal of Research & Methodology in Social Science Vol.
1, No. 3, p.1
x https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/4625/e9311b83ab40d05e785f1e9526d6
82be4158.pdf
x https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/business/meaning-of-family-
business-types-and-characteristics/41130
x https://www.pwc.in/assets/pdfs/family-business-survey/family-business-
survey-2013.pdf
x https://www.iimcal.ac.in/sites/all/files/FP-Dissertations-
2016/Abstract_Debarati%20Basu.pdf
x https://www.mapsofindia.com/my-india/india/major-business-houses-in-
india
x https://www.inc.com/encyclopedia/family-owned-businesses.html
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