| Top 10 challenges faced in scaling up the business |
| § Lack of Alignment in the values and Purpose of the company |
| § Market Misalignment between the Product/service offered and Customer needs/wants |
| § Owner Centralized Decision Structures leading to a bottle neck at the top |
| § Lack of a clear business direction cascaded down to the team below |
| § Lack of efficient & seamless integration of technology in the business operation |
| § Inability to handle Next Generation Succession and Engagement effectively |
| § Lack of Non Family professionals in key positions |
| § Lack of an effective board for the External View of Business Performance |
| § Inability to attract and retain talent due to favoritism towards family members |
| § External Variables like competing with big businesses, foreign companies, and a very fast changing technology landscape. |
Invisible Business-Women. No More.
- On: September 16, 2021
- By: alignedpillars
The Family Managed Business (FMB) arena in India is conservative and has a pre-defined way of working. However, new ideas and energy are flowing in with the next generation entering the business and taking the FMBs to greater heights. While sons of the family have been a natural choice as successors, daughters have also started to get into the consideration bracket.
Some surveys have revealed that the most common hindrance for a woman willing to enter the family business is ‘not being asked.’ Since the business has been running for generations, they need the approval to step in. There is no systematic training given to girls readying them to join the business. More often, girls have entered the business as a co-incidence like the untimely death of the father or absence of a son in the family.
Being a successor involves questioning existing norms and when you enter your family business, you bring the relations you have within the family into the business. This situation is tricky and challenges the balance of the office as well as the home. At times, in a conservative setup, when girls emphasize on independence and control over the day to day affairs, it is not taken in a positive light. For the married daughters, working in her father’s business poses a bigger challenge of balance between work and two homes – her Fathers and her In-laws. Seldom are these fine lines defined.
With all these things in mind, daughters have not made it to the board rooms of a majority of FMBs in India and the world alike.
Women like Nandini Piramal, Tanya Dubash, The Reddy sisters and many more are breaking the glass ceiling and setting examples for FMBs to follow. Companies that seek to achieve a competitive advantage with gender parity should emulate these traits of businesses that have successfully transitioned women successors.
- Define clear job responsibilities for the women of the business family
- Create a fine line between work responsibility and family responsibility.
- Establish a clear path for women to move into leadership roles.
- Pursue a long-term, sustainable growth strategy.