FFI On Friday | July 20, 2018

Prepared Exclusively for FFI Members

Summer School

The FFI Educational Centers Directory is one of the most visited areas on www.ffi.org.

The directory features university-based centers and forums that provide education for family enterprise members, undergraduate and graduate educational opportunities, and distinguished family enterprise research centers where family business research is encouraged and embraced.

In the fall, we will be releasing an updated format for the directory to make it an even more valuable resource for members and the general public. Please help us by reviewing the listings in the directory for errors and omissions, as well as corrections, which can be sent to ffi@ffi.org.

Today we feature some early adopters as well as more recently created centers and schools where research is consistently conducted by award-winning researchers. There are more than 100 centers and research programs around the world, so we plan to feature others in the coming months.

Early Adopters

Kennesaw State University-Cox Family Enterprise Center

Kennesaw State University-Cox Family Enterprise Center, one of the oldest centers, was founded by Craig Aronoff in 1987. Its mission is to act as an intellectual and practical hub for family members, non-family executives, external advisors, and students. With specialized programming, events and services tailored to the needs of each segment of this community, the center focuses on creating growth opportunities that empower individuals and organizations. Gaia Marchisio is executive director, and Lanie Jordan is the director. They were preceded by Wells Fargo Eminent Scholar Chair of Family Business, professor of management and entrepreneurship, Joseph Astrachan, who is an internationally renowned researcher.

Lanie Jordan

Gaia Marchisio

IMD Global Family Business Center

IMD Global Family Business Center launched its “Leading the Family Business” program in 1988 with the help of John Davis, Ivan Lansberg, and John Ward. The Global Family Business Center was launched some years later and is dedicated to the issues facing family businesses, family offices, and family foundations. The center helps ensure the sustainable success of business and family, whether large or small, by delivering premium programs and publishing cutting-edge research and insights in family business, contributing significantly to both the reach and reputation the center continues to enjoy today. Denise Kenyon-Rouvinez is the director of the center and an active researcher in the field. Read Benoît Leleux and Marta Widz’s recent FFI Practitioner article, “Lessons on Governance: Pruning the Tree or Inclusion.”

Denise Kenyon-Rouvinez

Benoît Leleux

Marta Widz

Northeastern University-Center for Family Business

Northeastern University-Center for Family Business Center for Family Business, launched in 1991, helps business families identify and avoid potential pitfalls, solve complex interpersonal and family business issues, and plan for future family business success in an ever changing and increasingly more competitive environment. The Center is actively involved in multiple research and community outreach projects and its programs are continually refined in response to members’ needs. Paul Karofsky was the founding. Ted Clark is the current director. On the faculty at Northeastern is Kimberly A. Eddleston, well-known researcher and co-recipient of the 2018 FFI Best Unpublished Research Paper Award.

Ted Clark

Kimberly A. Eddleston

Paul Karofsky

UDEM University of Monterrey Family Business Center

UDEM University of Monterrey Family Business Center was founded in 1999 to provide consulting and advice for business families, whose services support the preservation of the family-business legacy and enable the transformation of the business family and the company in their governing bodies and communication schemes. José Ángel Vázquez Villalpando is director of the center. For the first 10 years of its existence, the center was directed by former FFI board member Mauricio Alvarez.

Mauricio Alvarez

José Ángel Vázquez Villalpando

Recent Additions to the Field

Singapore Management University

Singapore Management University (SMU) established the Business Families Institute (BFI) in 2012 to be Southeast Asia’s pioneer regional business family-centric institute focused on addressing the needs of business families in the region. BFI @ SMU serves as an educational, engagement and research platform to bring business families together, drawing on the university’s experience to offer insights on issues such as business succession and family ownership. Annie Koh is academic director of the Business Families Institute.

Annie Koh

MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Sloan School of Management Executive Education

MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Sloan School of Management Executive Education, the newest of these programs, will launch the Future Family Enterprise this fall. The program will take place on the MIT campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts from October 7-12, 2018. It is for teams of later-generation family enterprise owners to build strategies for the future trajectory of their family, businesses, wealth, and ownership. Working at the intersection of management and technology, MIT Sloan is uniquely positioned to help family enterprises transform the present and envision the future that is being shaped by technological disruption and innovation. John Davis is the faculty director.

John Davis

Graduate/Undergrad Programs and Research Centers

Lancaster University Management School-Centre for Family Business

Lancaster University Management School-Centre for Family Business is committed to achieving excellence in research that contributes new and meaningful knowledge and produces impactful implications for the business practice of small and medium-sized family firms. At the forefront of family business research and thinking, the Center, founded by Ellie Hamilton, leads an active community of scholars and family businesses in developing global resources to promote the international exchange of ideas. The co-directors of the center are Alfredo De Massis and Josip Kotlar.

Alfredo De Massis

Josip Kotlar

Mississippi State University Center of Family Enterprise Research

Mississippi State University Center of Family Enterprise Research conducts and promotes original research on family business to provide educational and research opportunities for graduate students, primarily at the doctoral level, and to disseminate the results of research to family businesses throughout the U.S., and Mississippi in particular, in order to improve their management and performance. Distinguished scholars include James J. Chrisman, Daniel T. Holt, and Allison W. Pearson.

James J. Chrisman

Daniel T. Holt

Allison W. Pearson

Stetson University Family Enterprise Center

Stetson University Family Enterprise Center serves as a vehicle for family enterprise majors and faculty to conduct and participate in research initiatives that advance the understanding of family enterprises on a global scale. It is home to the U.S.’s first major in family business. The curriculum is designed to encourage interdisciplinary study, enabling students to graduate with double majors such as Family Enterprise and Accounting or Family Enterprise and Finance. The center was founded by Greg MCann. Sylvain Daudel is the current director.

Sylvain Daudel

Greg McCann

Summer Viewing

Innovation with limited resources: Management lessons from the German Mittelstand

Based on an article by Alfredo De Massis, David Audretsch, Lorraine Uhlaner and Nadine Kammerlander published in the Journal of Product Innovation Management, this video examines how small and medium privately-held companies can innovate despite resource constraints using the German Mittelstand as a case study.

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