Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Assignments
Reference Books
Kelin Gersick, Generation to Generation, Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press,
1997.
Section 1 Introduction and Course Syllabus 3
Consulting or Case Projects on your own family business are welcome. These
may be individual or team ventures depending on access and privacy considerations. But
team projects are highly recommended because of the objectivity that nonfamily
members can bring to your own family business’ analysis. Therefore, individual projects
will have to be discussed with the class instructor to receive approval for the plan of
work.
A few family-owned businesses have volunteered to be the site of your own
consulting or research into family-owned businesses. Teams of 3-5 students will be
organized to carry out these projects during the trimester. Project conclusions will be
presented in class to the top management/shareholder group of the firms involved. Both
the content and process of these presentations will be considered in the evaluation of the
team projects.
Grades
The written and in-class case analyses will represent 30% of the grade. Class
participation will account for 20% and the final 50% will either be the team consulting or
case project mentioned above or a special research project. Grades on written work will
be recorded as:
Outstanding A
Excellent A-
Very Good B+
Good B
Acceptable C
Unacceptable F
Changes
There may well be changes in this schedule and assignments. If you should miss a class it is
your responsibility to learn from others in the class or myself, if changes or additions were
CLASS SCHEDULE
Case: The Ferré Media Group. Read the case and prepare a 2-page paper
highlighting the best practices used and the similarities and differences with the
Bingham case. Also complete a family genogram for your own family, per the
directions provided on Chapter 2 of Family Business, 4th edition.
Suggested Readings:
1. Schulze, William, et. al., Exploring the Agency Consequences of Ownership
Dispersion among the Directors of Private Family Firms, The Academy of
Management Journal, 46(2), April 2003.
2. Cabrera-Suarez, Katiuska, The Succession Process from a Resource and
Knowledge-Based View of the Family Firm, Family Business Review, 14(1),
March 2001.
Case: Vega Foods Case. Read the case and prepare yourself for a class discussion
of the case questions.
Case: The Cousins Tournament. Read the case and prepare a 1-page critique of
the current situation. If you were a consultant to Grandview Industries, what
advice would you provide Al Blanchard, what would you urge him to do?
Suggested Readings:
1. Barnes, Louis B., Incongruent Hierarchies: Daughters & Younger Sons as
Company CEOs.
Assignment: Please construct your own family business assessment model based
on the assigned readings and your own experience. Prepare a set of questions that
address the main categories in your family-business diagnostic model to be used
in a fact-finding conversation with a family-firm leader.
Case: Fastener’s for Retail. Read the case and prepare a 2 page paper highlighting
best practices used and speculating on what you believe is likely to happen in this
case in the next several years. Please support your conclusions with the assigned
readings and the facts of the case.