There’s no doubt it’s tougher out there, but for family businesses who, by and large, are fleeter of foot than some larger enterprises, it’s a good time to think about growth. History tells us that successful businesses succeed even in tougher times. I think the most important thing is actually to start right at the beginning and work out strategically: what is the growth for; ie, organic or acquisition? Why are we making the growth? Strategically, is a good place to start and then you get into what I call the nuts and bolts, which is: how do we fund the acquisition; who do we go and talk to to raise the money; how do we think about structuring it; are there tax issues that we might want to think about; what implications does it have for our existing management team and how do we integrate the business? So there’s a whole host of issues that you want to think about, but I think it does start with the very simple question, why are we doing it?
Succession is obviously key for family businesses. It may well be that as a result of issues within the business you need to think about succession planning and then acquisition might actually bring you the solution to some of the problems around succession issues in your business.
New markets, international markets, clearly bring a whole other degree of complexity to it, both in terms of language issues, tax, local custom. I think you need to make sure that you’ve thought that through and bring someone onboard who’s actually got international experience; pretty important, particularly when you’re think about going overseas.
KPMG, as a firm, advises and works closely with family businesses on all of their agendas. Please come and talk to us. I think you’ll find it helpful to your growth.
As you contemplate the future of your family business, and think about the direction in which it is going, you will have to start asking yourself some very searching questions.
In this video, Frank Carter discusses those questions in more detail.
