Last Thursday, October 4, the II Conference of "Family Businesses in the World" organized by the Chair of Family Business of the University of Valencia took place. The event took place at EDEM Escuela de Empresarios, and four highly prestigious professors, three distinguished Valencian entrepreneurs and other experts from the Chair of Family Business at the University of Valencia participated in it. All of them analyzed the situation of the family business in the Netherlands, France and the Gulf countries to illustrate us with practical management lessons in the family business applicable to Spain.

The opening of the conference was carried out by Hortensia Roig, President of EDEM School of Entrepreneurs, who welcomed all attendees, emphasized EDEM's commitment to the Chair and expressed its desire that these types of events continue to be held.

After his speech, Alejandro Escribá, Director of the Chair of Family Business at the Universitat de València CEF-UV gave the first presentation of the day. Professor Escribá offered some data obtained by the GECE Observatory (promoted by Bankia and IVIE, and developed in collaboration with the Chair). These data showed how, in general, the family business is less competitive than the non-family business in our country. Furthermore, Valencian companies are smaller than the national average (16.1 vs. 19.5 employees on average. However, large family companies in the Valencian Community (CV) are more competitive than non-family companies of the same size. In other words, there are models for small and medium-sized family businesses in the CV to focus on to improve their competitiveness. In summary, Valencian family businesses are mostly small and not very competitive, but they have great benchmarks to follow. It seems necessary to carry out growth strategies, however, according to surveys, only 16% of family entrepreneurs have highlighted this factor as their main priority.

After explaining the current situation of the family business in Spain and in the CV, Alejandro Escribá introduced Rodrigo Basco, professor at the American University of Sharjah (United Arab Emirates). Basco told us about the family business in the Gulf Countries, specifically those that are part of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC). During his presentation he highlighted the challenges of development and evolution in the conception of family business governance in a very changing society that has been transformed in a very short period of time. To do this, he invited attendees to go on a "journey through time" through the history of the Al Saud family business, located in the Emirate of Sharjah. This company born in the 70s, has carried out 3 generational successions since its creation. The professor showed the particularities of each of them within a patriarchal structure, governed by Islamic law, hereditary and with little participation of women but that, at the same time, is undergoing profound social changes at a dizzying pace.

In the subsequent debate-colloquium, moderated by Alejandro Ríos (Partner and director of Broseta), the situation of the family business in Spain was compared with that of the Gulf countries. To do so, the academic vision of Rodrigo Basco was merged with the business perspective of Salvador Martínez (CEO of Obeikan MDF). On the one hand, the possibility of bringing entrepreneurial ideas to the Arab Countries from Spain was discussed. According to the professor, there is space and capital to introduce innovative ideas, but the correct way to penetrate a market with connotations very different from Spanish must be found. On the other hand, Salvador recounted his experience in the relationship with the government structures with the parent company of Saudi capital, highlighting what he had meant for his family in terms of developing opportunities for entrepreneurship and developing their professional skills as entrepreneurs.

After a coffee break, the lectures by professors Céline Barrédy (University of Lorraine) and Miruna Radu (Audencia Business School) continued. They discussed the situation of the family business in France and its most differentiating characteristics. They highlighted the different business models that exist in their country and had an impact on one that clearly separates the governing body (management) and the supervisory body (control). In this type of structure, the members of the supervisory body appoint those in charge of managing the company on a day-to-day basis. But, the most important characteristic of this model is that no member, family or non-family, can be part of both at the same time. Why is this corporate structure so relevant in the family business? Most French family businesses are between the second and third generation, which means that the business family will normally be large. Therefore, it seems normal that there is a wide variety of profiles among family members. A good way to maintain the family unit is to name those who are most interested in directing the business in the management body and leave supervising (as shareholders) those who are not as interested in the most continuous business activity. Apparently it is an optimal solution to avoid family conflicts, however, Barrédy and Radu pointed out that confrontations do arise when deciding which family member is integrated into each organ and between the estates themselves.

The last presentation was given by Anita Van Gils, professor at the University of Windesheim, who spoke to us about the main concerns of the family business in the Netherlands: succession, growth and digitization. Firstly, he highlighted the difficulties of family businesses in dealing with the succession process. To begin with, 33% of families do not have children and the country average is 1.7 children per family, which is an important limitation for the transmission of the family business to the following generations. Furthermore, there is a lack of interest in the children of family entrepreneurs in the Netherlands to join the family business. These highly qualified young people generally prefer to look for other alternatives to work. On the other hand, we find the so-called "Prince Charles effect": many Dutch businessmen delay their withdrawal from business excessively, leaving no room for their descendants. As a solution, Professor Van Gils proposes to promote strategies of rapprochement between the family and the company. Secondly, there was talk of digitization. Despite the Netherlands being a pioneer in terms of digitization rates in the company, Dutch small and medium-sized family businesses need improvement to get closer to the average for non-family members. Finally, the importance of combining strategy and entrepreneurship through the so-called "strategic entrepreneurship" was highlighted.

Professors Van Gils and Barrédy and entrepreneurs Héctor Dominguis (CEO of the Dominguis Group) and Carlos Moldes (President of the Moldtrans Group) participated in the second and last debate of the day. Both entrepreneurs contributed more than interesting reflections from their business perspective in the Netherlands and France. On the one hand, Héctor Dominguis highlighted the detachment towards family business by the following generations of business families that exist in France compared to Spain. According to his experience, the tendency in his sector is to look for a good sale of the family business and get rid of it instead of continuing to strengthen it. On the other hand, Carlos Moldes left an interesting reflection on the importance of talent and succession in the family business. He argued that in order to attract talent to family businesses, equal opportunities must be guaranteed when it comes to accessing management positions, making decisions, being heard, etc. That is, there should be no favorable treatment "by surname." And it is that, as assured Moldes: "The participations are transmitted but the direction must be earned." Professors Van Gils and Barrédy ratified both visions of employers from their teaching perspective.

Finally, Alejandro Escribá closed the event with a presentation of the main conclusions of the day. First, he stressed the importance of seeking a balance between the emotional wealth of the family and the wealth of wealth or business wealth. Also, he wanted to emphasize the training of members of the business family in the different roles they can occupy: shareholders, directors, directors, external... On the other hand, he touched on a topic that usually generates great debates around the family business: Should you open the capital of the company to external investors or not? Escribá did not give a magic formula or implacable rules on the subject, but rather, he advocated not ruling out any option a priori. In other words, the inflow of unfamiliar capital should be valued like any other business decision: analyzing whether the arguments for or against each case have more weight. On the other hand, he spoke of the importance of family protocols and the need to clearly define the criteria envisaged when evaluating actions. Lastly, he highlighted the relevance of transferring the values ​​of the company to both family members and those members who do not belong to the family but work in the company, especially those who occupy management positions.

In short, an event with a very different and interesting content in the panorama of the family business, which was a success in attendance. To close the event, some photographs were taken to remember and, later, the attendees went to the caterin room to enjoy a wine of honor.