Empire of the Sons
Here's why the three brothers who founded Pac-Van, the 1999 #1 Inner City 100 company, decided to stay close to the inner-city location where both their fath... Read more
Recent Success Stories Articles
Hiring In-Laws: The Kiss of Death
Hiring in-laws into a family business can lead to company-threatening disasters. The reason? They'll try to prove their value to the company by changing the ... Read more
Making the Best of Both Worlds
Jade Systems Corp., a computer reseller on the 1998 Inc. 500 list, is based in two dramatically contrasted locations--a gritty section of Long Island City an... Read more
Famous Splits
A look at what happened when well-known husband and wife entrepreneurial teams decided to divorce. Includes what each partner left with, and the present stat... Read more
Business 101: Family-Business Planning
Last April 73-year-old Herman Shooster flew from Florida to Texas for surgery on a stomach aneurysm, a procedure that would keep him from running his comp... Read more
Passing the Torch
How you transfer your company to your children depends on your financial situation, your vision of the company's future, and the confidence you have in th... Read more
Resources for Family-Run Businesses
Craig Aronoff and John Ward are the authors of Another Kind of Hero: Preparing Successors for Leadership and Family Business Succession: The ... Read more
Could Your Kids Run Your Company?
If you dream of a family dynasty, it's time to start planning. Last April 73-year-old Herman Shooster flew from Florida to Texas f... Read more
We're Outta Here
A business owner describes the drawbacks to running a business at home and explains why she and her husband are happier now that they've moved their business... Read more
The Antihero's Guide to the New Economy
Doug Mellinger, founder of PRT Group, is hailed as an entrepreneurial antihero. Read how he created a wildly successful software design company that isn't ce... Read more
Strife With Father
CEO Ben Chase is a confident salesman and former college decathlete now running a fast-track company. His vice-president, Mike Chase, has similar qualitie... Read more
Refined Taste
Companies benchmark innovators all the time: Microsoft, Ben & Jerry's, Toyota, and Southwest Airlines all do it. But Bob Davis, CEO of Davis Cos., has ide... Read more
Bringing On Baby
Richard Doyle doesn't hire only people who are the youngest children in their families, but he does think they fit in especially well at Mass. Bay B... Read more
Should You Leave the Company to Your Kids?
Business owners take sides on the issue of leaving your business to the kids when you retire. Read more
I Was a Teenage Werewolf Lover
A short quip from a publisher who broke into the industry as a teenager with his pals. Read more
The State of One Small Family Business: Crane
A look at some of the milestones and hardships a 200-year-old family business has encountered. Read more
The Blood Knot
A restaurant owner explains some of the pitfalls of running a family business. Read more
Benchmark: Family Businesses on the Go
Some data comparing some traits of high-growth family owned businesses to low-growth family owned companies. Read more
Family Business: Preparing for Succession
A quick look at how a succession plan allows for a smooth transition in the event of a tragedy. Read more
Benchmark: Sources of Conflict in Family Businesses
Three graphs that display the hottest issues of contention between generations in long-term family businesses. Read more
Management: There Are No Simple Businesses Anymore
An up-close look at a family business wrestling with the new, complex rules facing today's small business. Read more
Family Business: Tough Love
Some thoughts on how to craft a family-employment policy, and how to order a free two-page outline on the same topic. Read more
Are Your Kids Good Enough to Run Your Business?
Even if you've never considered your company a family business, that question could be very important. Read more
Setting the Stage
Jim Henson's son Brian writes about how he and his siblings filled his famous father's shoes in the family business. Read more
Sole Survivor
One third-generation family business has survived imports, mergers, offshore manufacturing and new technologies. Read more
Black Entrepreneurs: A New Generation
As traditional black-owned retail and service businesses decline, new, more ambitious black entrepreneurs emerge. Read more
It's Just Not the Family Way
A nationwide survey asked family-owned companies to rate the importance of various sources of financing. Read more
Bored With the Board
Reader-to-reader advice. Read more
Family Feud
Professional mediators can help resolve family-business disputes. Read more
So Much for an Easy Succession
Chart showing steps family-business owners have taken to ensure the family's continuing participation. Read more
Death, Where Is Thy Sting?
Chart of family-owned business owners' concerns about ownership succession. Read more
Managing Diversity
One company owner's management techniques help to make immigrant workers feel welcome. Read more
Network: July 1992
Network questions and answers. Read more
Fathers and Sons
First-person account on the questions of succession how a family business changes your life. Read more
