Abstract
In the words of Abraham Lincoln, “Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.” When talking about communication, we often hear that “Family businesses are different.” They prefer to avoid the limelight, and many generations of owning or controlling families have grown up with the “karma of secretiveness” for a series of reasons. Unfortunately, too often family businesses tend to be visible in the media for all the wrong reasons—when things go wrong, like a family dispute, or when the business is being sold.
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Notes
- 1.
The Global Family Business Index comprises the largest 500 family firms around the globe.
- 2.
IMD’s regression analysis on industry standardized return on investments over two five-year periods (2005–2009 and 2007–2011) confirms the financial benefit of a well-communicated corporate purpose. The analysis provides conclusive evidence for the hypothesis that there is a crucial link between a strong reputation and superior financial returns. Using a purpose-performance model developed by Roberts and Dowling (2002), the study takes the Purpose Impact Index as a starting point and uses regression analysis to assess the impact on financial performance, measured as Return on Invested Capital (RoIC), over a period of five years. Company size was used as the control variable. The analysis was carried out using two alternative scenarios—one that tested the effect of purpose impact on economy-wide returns, and one that measured the effect in relation to the average performance within an industry.
- 3.
The following abstract refers to two IMD case studies.
- 4.
The 2014 Edelman Trust Barometer is the firm’s 14th annual exploration of trust. They surveyed 33,000 people (27,000 General Public and 6000 Informed Public respondents) in 27 markets around the world on their trust in institutions, credible sources/channels and specific issues and perceptions impacting trust in business and government; http://www.edelman.com/Trust2014
- 5.
Case study interview of the Author with Jonas Bonnier (CEO Bonnier Corporation 2008–2013); Stockholm;17 04 2012 [13].
- 6.
English translation of “Gardien du Savoir”: Guardian of the knowledge.
- 7.
Conversation with the author, June 2014.
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Schwass, J., Glemser, AC. (2016). Family Business Identity. In: Wise Family Business. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58600-1_2
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