65% of family businesses globally have grown sales in the past year, up from less than half in 2010. This according to the 1952 family businesses worldwide participating in the 2012 PwC Family Business Survey.
In Hong Kong, family enterprises have performed reasonably well over the last year, 48% having grown sales in the past 12 months. Family businesses in region are confident, predicting steady growth in future with 76% aiming to grow over the next five years.Many more family businesses are listed in Asia than elsewhere in the world. Richard Sun, Head of Entrepreneurial Group, PwC Hong Kong and China South commented, “Many family businesses in Hong Kong are very successful, however, some of them lack a professional management structure and good corporate governance standards. Lack of good corporate governance can easily give rise to internal conflicts.”
Challenges around succession are often front-of-mind and further compounded by family conflict/politics and the need to attract and motivate non-family staff. The survey revealed that only half of the family businesses surveyed have a shareholders’ agreement in place. Globally one in five has no procedure in place to deal with conflict while in Hong Kong over half of the family businesses have no conflict resolution arrangement.
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
