The Family Business Management Handbook.

The Family Business Management Handbook: The Complete Resource For Building And Managing A Family Owned Company, by The Editors of Family Business magazine. Philadelphia: Family Business Publishing Co., 1996. 122 pp., $125.00 softcover.

Family Business magazine has provided its readers with a wealth of information over the past years. Recently, the editors of that quarterly, along with business leaders and experts in the field of family business, have compiled a comprehensive guide to the wide range of issues that stakeholders in family businesses face. The Family Business Management Handbook: The Complete Resource for Building and Managing a Family Owned Company comprises the following sections: Leadership, Business and Family, Compensation, Operations, Advisors and Consultants, Succession, and Resources. Included in these sections are insightful chapters on such topics as leadership, harmony and conflict resolution, sibling teams as co-presidents, compensation, operations, use of advisors, boards of directors and consultants, and, of course, succession.

Audience

The Family Business Management Handbook is geared for families in business and would also benefit new advisors as well as other students of the field who want a good overview of the issues and conventional wisdom. It does not, however, present or analyze research, neither does it offer "cutting edge" perspectives. Rather, it offers good perspectives on family business and, in some cases, practical advice and an understanding of the maze of family business issues through which one must navigate. Consultants and advisors may find it useful to share sections of the book with clients to help give them a brief orientation to the particular challenge they may currently be facing.

For family businesses that have participated in educational programs, made a serious study of the field, deployed sophisticated management strategies, and/or worked successfully with consultants, this book may seem basic. For those who need information to share with family members to help them consider their situation in a more objective perspective and to broaden their point of view, the Handbook contains many helpful examples and strategies. For instance, the chapter on compensation provides the results of studies on compensation for business executives of family businesses of various sizes. It also shares strategies for compensating nonfamily managers when "golden handcuffs" are needed. This information can be very useful for families who need other perspectives on money and family.

Perspective and Advice

Family businesspeople can read about their peers' experiences in "Advice from a Founder to his Son." That chapter examines issues related to an ethical will and describes the philosophy of one founder prior to his death. The chapter also provides a concrete example of how a leader's wisdom can be passed on to his or her successors. Similarly, the "Values and Mission Statements" chapter includes the Mogi family constitution and the McSwain family principles as examples of family business credos