Research over the past three decades suggests that family assemblies, family councils and other governance structures help a business-owning family sustain their enterprise over multiple generations. As families become aware of the value of governance activities, they wonder how other families set up their assemblies and councils, how much they spend on governance and how the various governing bodies operate.
After a request at a recent Transitions conference, we decided to gather concrete information on how enterprising families conduct family governance. Subscribers to Family Business Magazine’s newsletter were asked to complete an online survey in December 2019 and January 2020. We received 320 responses.
Of the total who completed the survey, 35% (113) report that their families have a family council, the basic unit of family governance. (See sidebar for a definition of terms used in this report.) Their responses show substantial engagement in family and business governance. Most of the data in this report are from this subset of 113 families.
Your family can use this information as a benchmark to assess your own practices, as well as to consider pathways to develop or expand the nature and extent of your family governance.
The vast majority (90%) of the 113 families with a family council have been in business for many years and continue to operate their original, legacy family business.
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