legal spotlight


Building value in a family-run business


The corporate and commercial team at IBB Solicitors works with many family-run businesses trying to balance the challenge of looking to provide decent returns for the current owners with a desire to see their legacy continue into the next generation, writes Adam Dowdney, corporate and commercial partner


According to KPMG, family- owned companies account for two-thirds of all businesses worldwide and generate more than 70% of annual global GPD. So they must be doing something right.


So, what builds value in a family- run business, while maintaining the opportunity for well- structured family succession?


Invest in the long term. When there is so much political uncertainty (eg Brexit) a family’s business tendency to invest more conservatively and build robust business models is a great asset.


Succession planning. Occasionally, the younger generation don’t want to follow their parents into the family business. Planning succession, whether it is from within the family or from outside, should be done together, for the sake of the family and their greatest asset. Use third-party advisers to provide impartial advice and ask those difficult, challenging questions.


Work together. Working with relations can generate levels of trust and commitment not seen in other business


models, but it can also lead to frustration, conflict and resentment. Keeping head and heart separate can make a family business successful, but ensure potential successors have exposure to all relevant parts of the business, so they are properly equipped when the time comes and ensure all successors have the necessary skills and commitment for the job ahead.


Innovate. Embracing the online market and simply researching, testing and developing ideas that help the next generation engage with the business will help to rejuvenate the whole organisation.


Stick to your values. Even if you are considering raising finance through external investors, banks or VCs/PE, work with your advisers to find the organisations that will help you keep your values intact.


Whether your family business is there for the next generation, or is an investment that you will one day sell to aid future generations, you need expert advisers around you. At IBB, we take pride in understanding what our clients need to get done and what they want to achieve. If you would like impartial advice that focuses on the positives, resolving problems and finding solutions that support the whole family, we are here to help.


Adam Dowdney


adam.dowdney@ibblaw.co.uk 01895 207264 ibblaw.co.uk


These are vital times for HR, writes Henley Business School


henley.ac.uk/open


While the need to steer people and organisations has never been greater, HR continues to underinvest in capability-building, and the gap between what we need to deliver and what we are able to deliver widens.


Since 2005, Henley has supported HR through research, events and development programmes, including the Advanced HR Business Partner programme.


Now we offer a series of four, one-day programmes, spanning today’s challenges of HR value creation: business partnering, talent and performance, organisational development and strategic workforce planning.


HR business partners (HRBPs) are no longer simply generalist HR managers; they link the centre of a business to its constituent business units. They must be good at HR and be able to role model a commercial, pragmatic yet challenging attitude alongside stakeholder management and relationship building.


They must talk the language of talent and performance, to help embed and drive wider organisational approaches to talent at the local level and offer organisational design and change management support.


Diana Richards 01491 418767 exec@henley.ac.uk henley.ac.uk/hrmasterclasses @HenleyExecEd


THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – MARCH 2017 businessmag.co.uk 17


Sadly, though, many HRBPs feel that they are not equipped with the tools to accelerate their own development in line with this need.


Therefore, Henley has created the Effective HR Business Partnering programmes (parts 1 and 2); both one-day programmes, minimising time away from the business.


Part 1 covers the skills, attitudes and behaviours critical to establishing partnership and credibility, while part 2 focuses on managing talent and performance.


In combination with the organisational development and strategic workforce planning masterclasses, these programmes offer a convenient and powerful opportunity for insight and development, available singly or as a series.


At a time when HR functions must establish themselves as a fundamental value partner for business and deliver powerfully against this proposition, HR has to upskill itself to close the gap between demand and supply.


If we continue to be the ‘cobbler’s children’ of business, the conversations around our value and cost will become even more frequent and pronounced.


EXECUTIVE EDUCATION


business focus


OPEN PROGRAMMES BE EXCEPTIONAL. THE HENLEY WAY.


HR must invest in capability to stay relevant


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