The Dublin City University Centre for Family Business, formed under the University of Enterprise strategic plan (2012-2017), is a collaboration between the university, three key professional services firms (PwC, William Fry Solicitors, and Allied Irish Bank) and five leading family businesses, created with the aim of improving transgenerational survival in family business in Ireland.
It draws on expertise from the business school, the Ryan Academy for Entrepreneurs, the Leadership and Talent Institute (LTI) and the Centre for Executive and International Education (CEIE). In a short period of four years, the Centre for Family Business has built a national, accessible and flexible programme of engagement and support for family business, and put family business on the national policy agenda through its research and advocacy.
Building awareness and supporting family firms at a local, regional and national level
An inherent challenge facing family businesses is survival across generations, as only 33% of family firms will be passed to the second generation. The Centre for Family Business operates a blended programme of engagement and management development at local, regional and national level that includes the Annual Best Practice National Conference, National Roadshow, research led practitioner workshops, monthly ‘how-to’ articles, an online resources platform, and a quarterly e-zine. The Centre engages with 1,500 family firms, 2,600 practitioners, and has had in excess of 64,000 website visits.
The voice of family business in local and national policy
The Centre plays a leading role in research and advocacy of family business in Ireland. In 2017, the Centre for Family Business study on the economic impact of Irish family business, using data from the Central Statistics Office, has been instrumental in policy development by state bodies (e.g. Enterprise Ireland and the Industrial Development Authority) and family business interest groups (e.g. Family Business Network Ireland). The Centre is working with the Central Statistics Office to change how some national statistics are collected, so that the contribution of family businesses to the Irish economy can be more accurately identified.
In 2016, the Centre completed a report on family firms for Fingal County Council, the local government in north Dublin. The report, entitled Lessons in Resilience and Success: a Snapshot of Multigenerational Family Businesses in Fingal, Dublin, provides key economic data, as well as recommendations for the council on how to engage with family businesses in the region to assist in their sustainability and growth. The framework devised from this report has been adopted as best practice by local governments and councils nationally.
The Centre is also a founding member and academic partner in the first government National Steering Committee on Family Business.
Building awareness within family firms: current and next generation
The Centre for Family Business is involved in the Annual National Best Practice Conference, a national conference that introduces management development topics for the year by discussing best practice from the perspective of senior management and researchers. Members of a leading international family business share their know-how and a keynote address is given by a renowned family business scholar. The conference also features a series of thematic breakout sessions. The aim of the conference is to engage the largest number of families and professional support bodies as well as raise national awareness of the specific challenges faced by family firms.
To ensure national reach, the Centre for Family Business visits four cities across Ireland each year as part of its National Roadshow. The aim of these interactive workshops is to support families to develop solutions to issues addressed at the National Conference. There is a specific focus on intergenerational learning, and actor-based roleplay is used to recreate the family business dynamics.
Alongside the calendar of events produced by the Centre, it also produces a series of monthly ‘how to’ articles, which provide practical advice, tools, checklists and frameworks for managing the ‘family’ business.
Supporting family firms to develop solutions
Family firms looking for a deeper understanding of issues such as succession planning, talent management, legacy, and professionalisation, can attend research-led workshops. The team use in-house case studies and analytical tools, including Moore’s and Barrett’s 4L Framework for Family Learning, in these small group sessions. The focus is on intergenerational participation and dialogue.
Alongside this, the Centre has developed a suite of online resources which provide a platform for problem-based learning (e.g. webinars, podcasts, videos, and in-house case studies). A quarterly e-zine provides further support through the provision of case studies of the ‘lived experience’ of family business, and is distributed to over 1,500 family businesses and professional support networks.
The Centre for Family Business is an example of the successful partnership of a university, professional service bodies and government agencies to increase national awareness and maximises access to support for family business. It leads an integrated programme of engagement and management development, driven by the needs of family business and informed by evidence-based research. Each year key stakeholders identify the management development topic that becomes the focus on the Centre’s programme of activities. To date, this has included succession planning, talent management, legacy and professionalisation. Each programme offers multiple opportunities for engagement and learning to ensure the widest level of participation.