Basically there is only one who really knows how to do it properly.

The one who turned a small family business into a global corporation.

Who worked for decades for it.

He doesn't have to be told anything more.

But who should ever follow in such footsteps?

The dispute with the successor is programmed.

The heirs, too, sometimes fight each other to the extreme.

Most recently, the feud between members of the Oetker clan caused a sensation, which ended in the split up of the family company.

Daniel Mohr

Editor in the economy of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

  • Follow I follow

What can have a certain entertainment value for the public as a soap opera is tricky from an economic perspective. 90 percent of the companies in this country are owned by the founding families. 58 percent of employees get their wages from such companies, and these companies account for 52 percent of sales in this country. Sensible management of family businesses is therefore of fundamental importance for our prosperity. In this respect, it is good that Birgit Felden can calm down. The professor of management consulting and succession planning says: "In the past 30 years it has become much more professional, most of them no longer stumble into succession planning unprepared."

But the matter is still not that simple. “An alpha animal is looking for a new alpha animal,” says Felden, describing the situation. The management consultant and board member of family businesses was therefore immediately ready when she was asked if she would like to participate in the stewardship society, an initiative that aims to take on the role of salaried managers in family businesses. Because hand on heart: Often one's own descendants are unwilling and suitable for company management. In larger family businesses in particular, there are often external managers on the board or even at the top of the company. And keeping your head above water in the network between family lines with different interests is not that easy.

A code of the initiative for the management of family and foundation companies has now been presented. "The corporate governance code for listed companies has been widely discussed for years, but there is absolutely no guide for external managers in family-run companies," say Marc Viebahn and Marc Konieczny. The two partners of the personnel consultancy Interconsilium have therefore founded the stewardship company and asked 15 managers from family businesses to share their experiences. The result is a compact code with five principles that are intended to facilitate cooperation between the founding family and management. "We keep our independence," it says. And: “We are committed to professional governance.” Both easier said than done.

But for Andreas Ronken this is essential for business success. He has been running the chocolate manufacturer Ritter Sport for six years. Very much in agreement with his predecessor in the job: Alfred Theodor Ritter, grandson of the company's founders. "It is a misconception that family businesses function like dictatorships and that we employed managers only do what the patriarch supposedly wants, like guided monkeys in advance obedience," says Ronken. “Of course I am only an employee, not part of the family, but I am employed to do what I think is good for the company.” Entrepreneurs and owners do not always manage to exercise restraint as with Ritter Sports. “If it fails, it is always on both sides,” says Professor Felden. "It is bestif there is a family constitution that can be a good basis for working with external managers. "