Daybook's Expert of the Week: Family Business
If you think family businesses are all mom-and-pop-shops, you’re wrong
Astrachan has spoken at the U.N., written books, and counseled CEOs, kings and queens, yet he is based right here at the Coles College of Business at Kennesaw State University. In addition to being a Georgia Eminent Scholar, he was also the lead researcher for the 2003 American Family Business Survey. He is frequently quoted in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and other publications on family business trends and statistics. Among some of the surprising facts about family businesses:
- About 90% of all new businesses in the U.S. are family-owned or controlled.
- Family businesses often out-perform non-family-owned businesses, and tend to have less debt.
- Revenues for 30% of U.S. family firms grew more than 11% in 2002, despite economic downturns.
- While European businesses often last hundreds of years, it’s rare for American family businesses to last more than two generations.
- Several Georgia family–owned businesses have operated for more than 100 years.
- Women are gaining ground in family-owned businesses. More than one-third responding to the American Family Business Survey expected their next CEO to be a woman.
Family businesses also face unique problems, such as succession planning and conflict resolution. Dr. Astrachan is an expert on those issues as well.
Take it from our Expert
Joe Astrachan is Wachovia Chair of Family Business, Professor of Learning and Professional Development, and director of the Cox Family Enterprise Center at the Coles College of Business, Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, Georgia, an Atlanta suburb. In addition he is Distinguished Research Chair of Family Business at Loyola University Chicago’s Business School. He is also a principal of The Family Business Consulting Group, Inc.
Astrachan is editor of Family Business Review, a scholarly publication of the Family Firm Institute (FFI) of which he is a former board member. He has been involved with such lobbying groups as The Committee to Preserve American Family Businesses, Family Businesses of America, and the Center for the Study of Taxation; is a member of the Academy of Management and Southern Management Association; a founding member of the Yale Program for the Study of Family Firms; and a member of the team that designed and conducted several national research projects including a 2002 project sponsored by the Raymond Institute of which he is a fellow; and director of Kennesaw State University's Estate Tax Research Program.
In addition he is Distinguished Research Chair of Family Business at Loyola University Chicago’s Business School. He is also a principal of The Family Business Consulting Group, Inc.
Contact:
Wachovia Chair of Family Business and
Director of Cox Family Enterprise Center
Michael J. Coles College of Business
Kennesaw State University
1000 Chastain Road, Box 0401
Kennesaw, GA 30144-5591
770-423-6045
Joe_Astrachan@coles2.kennesaw.edu