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It is only 30 percent of businesses that go up to the second generation while only 4-7 percent that go up to the third generation. Reason: family conflicts. Raising this issue of serious concern, Dr Mita Dixit, a family business management consultant, said different personalities and working styles, unequal treatment and nepotism are among the various reasons that lie at the heart of family conflicts. These conflicts result in poor performance and poor survival rate of businesses. Dr. Mita was speaking at a seminar held recently by We School, in collaboration with Entrepreneur, to discuss the most frequently asked question – How to increase profits without additional investments.

Talking about family managed businesses, Dr. Shrinivas Gondhalekar, who is an expert in quality and productivity management and a PhD in Kaizen, said that the strength of India lies in family businesses. Approximately 85 percent of SME businesses are family businesses which provide 75 percent of the employment and contribute 22 percent to the GDP. With a family business in cradle, youngsters are full of enthusiasm. However, cautioning against enthusiasm Dr. Godhalekar quoted the great guru Dr. W.E. who said, “Enthusiasm is dangerous. You need knowledge. Knowledge is not enough; you need profound knowledge.”

Dr. Gondhalekar said combination is the real language that a potential business man speaks. Focusing on the four Ms of business (man, machine, material and method) Dr. Gondhalekar demonstrated how a small change in method can bring about a large change in results without putting any extra investment. He laid emphasis on the importance of customer-oriented products and doing quality check at the beginning of the process. He also advised entrepreneurs to shift to flow method of working from batch method of working.

Seen to show keen interest in learning more, the business owners hailed the session and discussed how feasible the implementations were. Running a business of aroma oils, Swetha Shetty said, “I shall share whatever I learnt here with my team members. I hope to see substantial improvement in operations.” Having a very different reason to join the program Chetan Sood, who is into a business of roofing systems, said, “My CEO is from IIM so I definitely need to have a better understanding than him of things to be called the business owner. This will help me understand where I can outsource and where I need to pay personal attention. It gives you a better hold over your business.”

Dr. Gondhalekar and Dr. Mita hailed the interest of businessmen to learn more, irrespective of age, and to bring about a change in order to touch new heights in business. Dr. Kanu Doshi, Dean, Finance, We School, was also present during the discussion.

Meanwhile, to help businessmen address all issues, We School has come up with a Post Graduate Diploma in Management in Family Managed Business (PGDM-FMB). The AICTE-approved program is designed to make significant improvement in the existing business operations with little or no investment and gain an in depth knowledge about business. The program shall also help develop an understanding to figure expansion and diversification with intelligent investment.

Differing from a standard MBA in training students to be entrepreneurs rather than employees, the 22-month program shall see students attending classes for seven days a month, leaving time to attend business for the balance three weeks. A candidate is required to be a graduate from a recognised university with minimum 50 percent marks and have two years of work experience. A batch shall comprise 30 students. A fee of Rs.3.7 5 lakh shall be paid in three equal instalments within the first year of the program.

Tags:
conflict, entrepreneur, family business, FMB, PGDM, weschool