Source : Topnews.in

A family business is a business in which one or more members of one or more families have a significant ownership interest and significant commitments toward the business’ overall well-being. In some countries, many of the largest publicly listed firms are family-owned. A firm is said to be family-owned if a person is the controlling shareholder; that is, a person (rather than a state, corporation, management trust, or mutual fund) can garner enough shares to assure at least 20% of the voting rights and the highest percentage of voting rights in comparison to other shareholders.

Family businesses may have owners who are not family members. Family businesses may also be managed by individuals who are not members of the family. However, family members are often involved in the operations of their family business in some capacity and, in smaller companies, usually one or more family members are the senior officers and managers. Many businesses that are now public companies were family businesses.

Family participation as managers and/or owners of a business can strengthen the company because family members are often loyal and dedicated to the family enterprise. However, family participation as managers and/or owners of a business can present unique problems because the dynamics of the family system and the dynamics of the business systems are often not in balance.  Read more ……

Too often, the wrong person with the right last name gets the corner office.

What are the chances that, out of thousands of candidates for the CEO spot, the son or daughter of the company founder is the most competent of the bunch? Slim to none.

Say you are a member of the Ford family, and your financial security lay in family trusts stuffed with Ford Motor stock. Who would you rather bet on, William Clay Ford Jr. or Alan Mulally, the former Boeing exec now at Ford’s wheel? In this case, Mulally had the presence of mind to secure $24 billion in funding prior to the recent economic collapse and thus avoided becoming a ward of the federal government, like GM and Chrysler.

The same can be said of the Walton clan at Wal-Mart. When founder Sam Walton died, much ink was spilled over fears that the culture, and thus performance, of the giant retailer would deteriorate. In fact, transition to professional management has yielded relentless revenue growth and profitability.

To be clear, I have met many family-member executives who were excellent leaders. But to be fair, the odds are heavily stacked against them. Read more ……

More News at KRISARU News

1. Hosted telephone systems provide robust features that can boost productivity without the need for capital. Many services can also lower your voice and data spending as well.

2. If you are looking to update your current e-mail, you can most likely do it faster, better, and cheaper with hosted solutions such as Hosted Microsoft Exchange without the need for additional IT staff, training, or capital for software and servers.

3. Customer Relationship Management software can be virtualized, too. There are many options—both general and industry specific—that enable you to “rent” your back office, rather than purchasing complex software and hardware to run it.

4. Throw away your backup tapes and the problems they create. A cost-effective solution is to have your IT staff back up your data remotely.

5. Already an option for larger companies, smaller businesses are now virtualizing their data centers to increase network performance and reduce costs.

Benefits from the above services are real. In addition to those already mentioned, you can also cut your power, cooling, and real estate bills, get greener, and increase application security, scalability, and stability. Read more ……

Many companies that produce goods and services for consumers face a serious dilemma — quite apart from the effects of the current global economic downturn. For at least the past five years, the tried-and-true formulas to boost the sales and market shares of brands have been becoming increasingly irrelevant and have been losing traction with consumers. Globally, the aggregate value of brands to consumers has been falling steadily, and this decline began well before the recent slump in stock prices. Read more ……

By Michael Krigsman
Wednesday, January 28, 2009 01:41 PM

CIO success depends on connecting the chaotic IT environment to high-level strategic and business priorities that matter to the broader organization. Here’s a list of 10 qualities of IT departments that have successfully bridge the strategic gap.

Successful IT groups are resilient, flexible, and highly responsive to organizational business needs. For many CIOs, this goal appears elusive and completely disconnected from the daily grind of servers, users, downtime, and help desks. Despite the difficulty, CIO success depends on connecting the chaotic, often crisis-driven, IT environment to high-level strategic and business priorities that matter to the broader organization.

Linking a tactical IT culture rooted in reaction and response to broader strategic goals is a worthy, if difficult, challenge, which requires understanding the areas of intersection between IT and the business. Despite the obstacles, IT must cross this bridge without disrupting its own operational ability to deliver projects on-time and within budget while still achieving planned scope. To be sure, this balancing act requires careful and delicate choreography!

Paul M. Ingevaldson spent 40 years in IT, most recently as CIO of international retailer, Ace Hardware. His recent column in Computerworld caught my attention because it presents 10 qualities of IT departments that have successfully bridged the strategic gap.

Paul’s list of great IT qualities addresses both considerations.

1. The CIO reports to the CEO or, at least, the chief operating officer, giving the CIO clout and ensuring IT’s independence.
2. An IT steering committee, composed of C-level executives from the business units, makes allocation decisions based on a defined set of priorities and criteria such as ROI. The committee is necessary to ensure that investment decisions are made in the interests of the entire company and not just an individual department.
3. The organization spends an appropriate percentage of corporate revenue on IT, indicating the company’s level of commitment to IT.
4. A well-managed, highly visible security team is in place, since this is one of the most vulnerable areas of IT.
5. Disaster recovery plans and processes, involving users and a documented recovery plan, are well-established and tested regularly.
6. An ongoing commitment to training keeps IT staffers up to date. Organizations that don’t train IT folks and use lots of consultants are not sufficiently focused on in-house staff.
7. Rigid adherence to an appropriate system development life cycle, that both IT and the user community understand, is a priority. Documenting the selection process offers insight into the professionalism of the IT organization.
8. Well defined technical and managerial career paths let all workers achieve higher pay and status. This is the only way to retain top technical people who don’t want to manage others.
9. A monthly major IT project status report is widely distributed throughout the company.
10. The CIO participates in long-range, organizational strategic planning. If not, it’s clear the business views IT as an implementer and not a strategic enabler.

Read more …..