How to Thrive in a Family Business

What, according to you, is a family business? What are its benefits? Why do a majority of family businesses fail? Can a family business be turned to your advantage?

Set around the backdrop of an enterprise that has been around for over a hundred years - the Baidyanath Group, these questions, and many more, are answered in this book on what makes family businesses tick specially beyond the third generation.

As any business passes through generations and each generation passes through these various stages of life - Brahmacharya, Grihastha, Vanaprastha and Sanyas - the transition is not just difficult, but also painful, both financially and emotionally. The resultant losses of this generational paradigm are not only monetary, but also familial. Do family businesses suffer from elder son syndrome, or is early division seen as taboo? When to plan succession and should one part with ownership?

Surprisingly, the business behaves as per the behaviour of the generation that manages it. Given an identical situation, the decision would vary as per the generation taking the call. Life is all about the choices we make, our decision, if right, becomes a 'virtue' for the family and the business. If not right, it becomes a 'sin'.

The book serves as a guide to what not to do by every member and every generation of a family. Identifying thirty actions which are the biggest sins that hinder the prosperity and continuity of any family business, Ajay Sharma, a third-generation businessman, weaves his own experiences with in-depth research and knowledge on the subject of family business. He believes that this book will be helpful to everyone - not just the stakeholders of family businesses, but also the millions who work with these family businesses, people who are the real lifeforce.