Insights from Hussein Shobokshi, Director of SHOBOKSHi Development and Trading The history of family businesses in the Arab world has been a turbulent one. Bearing incredible success stories as well as human tragedies, Arab family businesses have lived through all kinds of socio-economic changes. Challenges with new government policies, as […]

As we move past the financial crisis, the global economy has become thirsty for growth. While the BRIC countries escaped relatively unscathed and have been enjoying buoyant growth, the economic picture in Eastern Europe and the Middle East has become polarised: businesses are either flourishing or continuing to suffer. Western […]

Managing succession is one of the greatest challenges businesses face. By realising that it is a topic where the subjective perception trumps objectivity, and by accepting that there is no one right answer, family businesses can approach the issue with more structure, before it becomes a matter of urgency. Splitting […]

The Nuqul Group is one of the largest family-owned company in Jordan and the Middle East and has just celebrated its 60th anniversary. A business family is often mentioned in relation to its external achievements such as the establishment of brands, acquisitions, mergers, projects, and community involvement. Undoubtedly, however, when […]

A dialogue between Amy Schuman and Dr. Stephen McClure What happens when you put two family business experts into one room? We have tested it with family business consultants and authors Amy Schuman and Dr. Stephen McClure from The Family Business Consulting Group, USA. Providing us with deeper insights than […]

Sustainability could be considered to be the alignment of the business within the market and environment in which it operates to maintain strategic flexibility and increase business longevity. This article by Edward Nicholson, Managing Partner at Mercator Partnership Limited, and Consultant to Maitland Group, demonstrates how businesses can incorporate sustainability […]

Originally an anthropological term within the social sciences, “culture” is, in everyday language, a word typically associated with the characteristics and customs of nationalities, religions or regions. Since the 1980s, the term “culture” has been applied to businesses and many companies now put considerable time and resources into strengthening their […]

 “ANYBODY CAN BECOME ANGRY – THAT IS EASY, BUT TO BE ANGRY WITH THE RIGHT PERSON AND TO THE RIGHT DEGREE AND AT THE RIGHT TIME AND FOR THE RIGHT PURPOSE, AND IN THE RIGHT WAY – THAT IS NOT WITHIN EVERYBODY’S POWER AND IS NOT EASY.” Aristotle Anger takes […]

When a family owns and even runs a business together, it is usually concerned very much with the same things other business owners are too. How to grow, how to keep the competition at bay, how to finance the next step, these are the things that dominate the day-to-day. However, […]

Despite great progress in recent years, the number of women occupying top tier leadership roles in business is disproportionately small. According to the Pew Research Center, women currently hold only 4.6% of executive positions at S&P 500 companies and make up 16.9% of Fortune 500 board members. Even though women fill 50% […]

By Maya Prabhu, Managing Director, Coutts Institute One of the most significant trends in family businesses the world over is the increased prominence of women into more public and visible roles in the company. Historically, women in family business have had to conform to take less visible roles largely due to […]

Family businesses are often more socially conscious than their non-family business counterparts. They are more likely to hire people and less likely to lay them off, more likely to support their communities, and far more likely to be concerned with the long-term health of their communities. And they are not […]