Latest family business poll from the Institute for Family Business shows family firms more than twice as likely to be trusted than those on the stock market. Key Findings More than half (55%) say being a family firm is important to business trustworthiness Only 26 per cent say being listed on the stock market is important to business trustworthiness Strong values (88%), heritage (73%) and commitment to local community (71%) key to business trustworthiness Quality of products (94%) and staff (93%) ranked highest Fifty three per cent believe family firms have stronger values than non-family businesses People are more than twice as likely to trust family businesses as they are a company listed on the stock market, according to a new YouGov poll for the Institute for Family Business (IFB), published today. Fifty five per cent (55%) of people say being a family firm is important in trustworthiness. Only 26 per cent (26%) say being listed on the stock market is important. Values are key. Eighty eight per cent (88%) say an important factor for a company to be trusted by them is that it has strong values. Fifty three per cent (53%) say family businesses have stronger values than other companies – only nine per cent (9%) disagreed. Family businesses employ more than nine million people, contribute over a quarter of UK GDP and pay more than £84 billion in tax. They number some of the largest and most successful companies in the UK, including Clarks, Dyson, Warburtons, Primark, JCB, Speedo, Glenfiddich, Yorkshire Tea, Aunt Bessie’s, Ginsters, Selfridges, Wates and Walkers Shortbread. The most important factors in business trust are: Quality of products and services (94%) Staff (93%) Value for money (90%) Strong values (88%) Company heritage (73%) Commitment to the local community (71%) Being UK-based (65%) Having won awards for its products/ services (65%) Being a family business (55%) Being owned by the same family for generations (54%) The survey also found that people recognise that family businesses make an important contribution to the UK economy (71%) and play an important role in creating employment (53%). Their commitment to looking after their customers also gives family firms an advantage over non-family businesses, with more than half (52%) of consumers recognising that they offer higher standards of customer care – only eight per cent (8%) disagreed. Responding to the survey’s findings, IFB Director General Mark Hastings said: “Trust is a critical issue for businesses. Family businesses not only score well for trust, but have an advantage over other companies.” “Strong values are the key to what makes family firms different. Living those values is giving family firms an edge over listed companies. Family businesses pride themselves on carrying strong family values throughout their business practices – maintaining trust is essential when your name is above the door.” “Britain’s family business sector provides more than nine million jobs and produces a quarter of GDP. They are the backbone of the economy and number many of the UK’s largest and most successful companies. More than seven in ten people agree that family business makes an important contribution to the UK economy.” “Now is the time for Government and other businesses to work more closely with the sector and help put trust back into business.”

An interesting and thought-provoking insight into Asian family business owner thoughts about succession and the next generation. I was having breakfast recently with an accountant from the UK and with an old friend from the trust industry in Hong Kong. The trustee commented that she had a client who ran a family business in Asia who had just done the thing that many Asian father’s seem to do and called his son back from studies in the UK to come and start working in the family business. The English accountant automatically said: “What a bad decision – he should let his son make his mistakes somewhere else before he comes to work in the family business!”. From an English or American perspective there are many good reasons why the next gen should go and get outside work experience before coming and working in the family business. However when discussing this issue with business men and women in Asia I do get a lot of resistance to this “Western perspective”. Some of the explanations that I have heard from different families around Asia include: “I need my sons there because who else can I pass on the work to.” “I need to make sure that my sons enter the business because if they decide not to join then how can the business continue?” “The best person the children can learn from is their own father or mother.” “They should learn their family values directly from the source – from their own parents.” “You need to bring them in early so that they can bond with the non family executives that in the future they are going to lead.” “If I don’t bring my son into the business now his cousins are going to be there and get established before he will have any chance”. Other friends that I have discussed this issue with have basically responded saying that they have observed many successful second generation business leaders from Asian families who went to work straight after finishing their university and who have been successful in business and in their personal life. This leads to the most difficult Asian response to argue with: “This is what my father did with me – are you saying I have not been successful!?” I think that at the heart of the American thinking on this topic are the concepts of: adult developmental stages as articulated by Daniel J. Levinson in The Seasons of a Man’s Life (and later also The Seasons of a Woman’s Life); and the need to differentiate from your family. (The term “differentiation” comes from family systems theory. It should be compared to the term “individuation” which is the term used by Carl Jung in his discussion of the adult life cycle.) Under Levinson’s framework for men, the ages of 22 – 28 is the stage of “entering the adult world” and if you can be independent of your family during this key period it is very valuable in becoming emotionally distinct from your family. American culture is well understood to being an individualistic culture and Asian culture a collective culture. However is the concept of differentiation relevant for Asian families? The answer to this question seems to be a clear “yes”, but perhaps with some modification. One Asian academic has written that she has found that “a healthy family system correlates with a healthy family business”. Is it important for business owning families in Asia to give their next gen the best chance to differentiate? While this does not appear to be intuitively accepted in Asia I believe there are some sound arguments why this is very important. First, many Asian families do believe in the concept of human capital and intellectual capital as being important components of the family wealth. To give your next generation the chance to become mature adults is an investment in human capital. An Asian father (or mother) thinking about whether to pull their young adult back from school and into the family business should ask themselves the question of which is more important to you? The good of your business or the good of your son or daughter? If you value the well-being of the next gen, give them a chance to find maturity away from the family. Second, while you hear of many Asian families where the next generation successor came back straight from school and started working in the business and all went successfully, you also hear of cases in Asia where the successor later drops out and leaves the business – or they wait until the father has died and then they sell the business! Giving them that time away from the business so that they come back in as mature adults will likely mean the decision to join is a mature decision that they will not lightly go back on. I have to admit that my first two reasons are still very American in logic. This leads to my third reason which I think is very specific to the Asian context. The third reason then is that in many traditional Asian families, in families with a strong family hierarchy (“Confucian families”) the siblings often do not find it easy to work together collaboratively once ‘Dad” has gone. The siblings carry over their birth order and family role ways of relating to each other into their adult working lives. The more differentiate one of the siblings the better their ability to define a new adult self, and a new adult working relationship with their siblings. In short, the more maturity they will have in their interaction with their sibling partners. So if you send your next gen away to get outside work experience first, and to give them a chance to differentiate away from the family business, when they come back they are going to be much better business partners with their siblings and it will give the family business greater immunity against family conflicts. About the Author - Christian Stewart helps enterprising families around Asia work together, by facilitating family meetings and as a process consultant, helping the family to develop their own family governance structures.

Dr. Joseph H. Astrachan, Executive Director of the Cox Family Enterprise Center at Kennesaw State University, speaks on on the topic of Building a Family Business That Lasts and provides viewers with four key points to walk away with. Video published courtesy of Business Families Foundation.

Historically daughters were not considered for succession into ma­n­a­­gerial positions in family businesses. Gender used to be a main fact when determining a successor, with males being preferred. If daughters were brought into the business they were expected to carry out lower-level tasks, not be leaders. Daughters used to be willing to join the family business for various reasons such as to help the family, to fill a position nobody wanted, to have more flexible schedules, and to increase their job satisfaction. The reality for many now – although not for all – is more positive and there is a shift in mentality. More recently, women have gained more managerial experience and education. However, families which do not consider daughters as viable successors to their family business still exist, as do situations where daughters find themselves working harder to prove their abilities and be more visible. Women in family businesses still face discrimination and stereotyping as a result of societal prejudices. The roles and patterns of behaviour in families are often gender-specific. When family members work together, patterns of behaviour, value beliefs and expectations are often transferred to the work environment of the family business. Why are there women in family businesses who still, to this present day, are not being groomed for future leadership roles? Reasons vary and may include the parents’ need to protect their daughters more so than sons, and avoiding their daughters having to deal with problems that come with managing a business. Alternatively, work-life balance considerations may keep daughters from seeking leadership roles in the family business. Daughters may receive mixed messages from the family. Parents may encourage daughters to have children, but at the same time, they might complain if the daughter neglects the business. Fathers sometimes fail in defining the daughter’s role in the business, expecting her to behave as a businesswoman while perhaps treating her like Daddy’s Girl. These multiple roles can confuse the daughter because she will not know when to act as an employee and when to act as a daughter. Tension is generated between both parties, making it difficult for the daughter to establish her sense of identity. This conflict can be magnified when the outside world recognises the daughter as an adult, while the family may still see her as a child. Positive characteristics may be taken to an extreme and become detrimental for the daughter; characteristics like daughterly concern about the father and the business, seeing parents as mentors, and a tendency to avoid conflict. Some women may identify with other scenarios: a daughter obtaining a better position in the family business, contributing to sibling rivalry, and family tensions. Daughters might have to choose between gaining respect in the business hierarchy or the family hierarchy. Research shows that daughters have typically carried out three roles in family businesses. The first is that of the “invisible”. The “invisibles” are generally part of a large nuclear family and are not included in family succession plans. A perceived benefit of invisibility may be that daughters may leave and come back into the business as they wish. The second role is the “anchor”. The “anchors” come from families with few men in any generation. They are essential for the continuity of the business. They are guided from a young age as well as in their education to work in the business. They are offered very little alternative and may be ambivalent about their careers in the business. The third role is that of the “professional”. The “professionals” work in the mature family businesses with complex ownership structures, where a reasonable number of men also work. They interact professionally with the business. Another role is emerging for the woman in family businesses: the entrepreneur who starts her own venture. As women are starting successful family businesses, daughters are increasingly being considered as possible successors of the business. Differences between men and women should not be denied as when denied difficulties arise. Family businesses are a kind of environment particularly attractive to women due to the simultaneous valorisation of both the private aspects of family life and those of professional life. The recommendations for next generation women are to get an education and work experience outside the family business, not to take over the business unless they are passionate about it, compete on a male level while respecting oneself as a woman, work hard to achieve personal goals and trust inner instincts. About the Author - Roberta Fenech is an occupational psychologist currently reading for a PhD at the University of London.

Family businesses are certainly not immune to difficult economic times. But they usually have more options than publicly owned corporations. Let me share with you what some of my clients are doing to not just survive, but thrive, even in today’s business climate. A recent online Gallup article entitled “Building Engagement in This Economic Crisis,” quotes its chief scientist of workplace management, James Harter, Ph.D., saying, “In bad times, employee engagement is the difference between surviving or not.” But how does a family business keep employees focused and motivated? Rather than lay employees off (which reinforces the message of fear and uncertainty), many companies use downturns to create their own “stimulus package” to grow their businesses. Expand in a shrinking economy? Sounds impossible. But that’s just when you need your employees’ most creative thinking and loyalty. A policy of no layoffs in tough times (and I have clients who manage to do this) makes it clear to everyone that we are in this together. Another of my clients involves key employees in brainstorming sessions to create new opportunities for the company. This is not “make work” but truly helps the company take a fresh look at what its customers need and how to better meet those needs. The brainstorms have produced several ideas for new opportunity. Enthusiasm replaces hand-wringing. Positive attitude maintains an environment for growth and possibility. Think how strong that company will be when economic prospects do improve! A business plan is an excellent template for discovering new opportunity. Most family businesses don’t have a formal business plan. They can get by without it during the good times, but in difficult times operating without a plan is needlessly punitive. Formalising the business strategy sets you up for new options and renewed profitability. An effective planning tool I am familiar with for small to medium sized family businesses is the Jack Tesmer Institute’s Quick Plan; part on-line survey and part face-to-face discussion. The process helps focus the business on the market to evaluate your approach, organisational readiness and profitability. Another possibility is to work with a traditional business planner, such as John Pope, who works with family businesses to create a formal business plan. With a strategic business plan in hand, you have a better understanding about what to do, how to do it, when, with whom and at what cost. It could not only help you weather the current storm, but prepare you for an even brighter future. All of this discussion is about the business side. But what about the family side in rough times? Stress rises when any business struggles and it can go stratospheric within business families. Now is the time to reinforce and strengthen the family’s commitment to the business. Hold regular family meetings aimed at building emotional equity of your family and bond the family team. Family businesses traditionally spend a lot of time, money and energy building the financial equity of their business. In tough times as well as in good times, it is equally important—if not more important—to building the emotional equity of the family. Emotional equity in the family is the emotional connection, the emotional reserve and the sense of belonging we all need to get through the stress of tough times. Remember to celebrate family rituals and traditions. Keep up informal get-togethers where father and sons or brothers and sisters meet over a cup of coffee to support each other through stresses. One of the most difficult topics for any family to discuss is money. Start a series of family meetings that focus on money, on the family’s values regarding money, and money management and spending. Make sure your family’s behaviour is aligned around your family values. In a recent client meeting, a grandfather expressed his concern that stock market losses meant he could no longer continue to fund his grandchildren’s education at the current level. The grandparents were reluctant to raise the topic in the family. By not doing so, they were inadvertently creating tension within the family. Once the topic was on a meeting agenda the family was able to discuss and resolve it. Stress plummeted all around. Tough economic prospects do not automatically mean paralleling tough emotional and financial prospects. Opportunities can be found. Involve your employees and the entire family through family and company meetings. Share, brainstorm, and envision the future. It’s not a diversion, it’s an embrace that will certainly help the family and likely help the business. managing growth. About the Author - Tom Hubler continues his long-standing dedication to helping families of wealth and family-owned businesses succeed. He helps families develop a shared vision for the family and for the business; identify individual talents; tackle any unspoken issues; and create individual and organisational strategies to ensure a personally and financially rewarding business with a wealth preparation plan that ensures family values continue to emphasise a family culture of gratitude, philanthropy and purposeful living. www.hublerfamilybusiness.com

Latest research from KPMG in Singapore identifies the challenges facing family firms. This landmark study of family businesses in Singapore by KPMG reveals several interesting findings about how they see themselves. While some findings contain new insight, there are some which are less surprising. Preparing and training a successor was the most important challenge for family businesses. Other ‘top of mind’ concerns for family businesses in Singapore included choosing the right successor, resolving potential conflicts among family members and maintaining family control of the business. We have observed that many family businesses did not have a clear succession strategy. They should therefore start planning and grooming their successors early. However, 9-in-10 participants of the survey indicated that dealing with the issues of running the business was more critical than family disagreements. When asked about the major causes of conflict within family businesses, nearly a fifth cited the competence of family members working in the business. Nearly a third indicated they had no formal processes to resolve conflicts. While they face many challenges, family businesses are also able to count on strengths such as the ability to win business or customer loyalty, opportunities for competitive pricing or strong brand presence. A significant 9-in-10 considered governance structures to be an important element of the family business. Surprisingly, close to half of those surveyed said their current structure was optimal, with another 29 percent indicating that some minor tweaks might be required. In our experience, many non-listed family businesses are in need of change in this area. Download and read the full report below:

Kinloch Anderson, an Edinburgh family company since 1868 are renowned experts in kilts, tartans and all aspects of Highland Dress. Deirdre Kinloch Anderson married into the family firm and shares her thoughts. What does your family business do? Scottish Clothing and textiles, renowned for kilts and Highland Dress, also wholesale and skirt production, tartan design and Brand Development in Japan, Korea, Taiwan and China. How did you get involved? Married into the 5th generation What did you want to be when you grew up? Initially the first ever lady mounted Policewoman! Then social worker. Then working with publication of Children’s school books in foreign languages. What are your first memories of the family business? My husband was dedicated to making it ever more successful and wanted me to be interested and involved when appropriate. What values are important in your family/family business? To be a role model for Scotland, upholding the highest principles of integrity and service. What is the best thing about being a family business? For us, personally, the lifestyle that goes with it, the places we go to and the people we meet. Commercially, when we have made a decision we can go ahead and do it. And the worst? The demands and pressure of the ultimate responsibility. What is the best thing about your working day? Working with a great team of people in our Company. There’s always a new challenge. What is your proudest family business achievement? There have been so many over the 145 years: Queen’s Award for Export in 1979, Douglas Kinloch Anderson OBE in 1983, Award for Business Excellence Scotland 1999, Deirdre Kinloch Anderson OBE 2010, but most important is always thinking ahead. Is there a next generation waiting in the wings to take over? 2 sons: 6th generation in the Company in their early 40’s. One is Chief Executive and the other is Director of Brand Development. What do you see as the biggest challenge facing family businesses? Same as for other companies, the challenge and competition of the workplace. What words do you associate with family businesses? For us: Scottish, Authentic, Creative, Experienced, Enterprising, Discerning, Dependable, Global Words of wisdom – What piece of advice would you pass on to someone thinking about joining the family business? First take time to learn as much as you can about our Company. Then always look for new opportunities, new developments so that we can remain world leaders in our niche market.

Advisers can help clients better secure their family business by asking them to address four key areas: legal structure, governance structure, policies and processes. Many traditional professional advisers and trustees are familiar with legal structure, but it is critical to address all four areas to help clients build a solid business foundation for the future. In this article, Christian Stewart explores the topic in more detail. Legal Structure The first question to ask is: what is the right kind of legal structure to secure the long-term protection of the family business? Should it be owned by a trust, a charity, a foundation or a holding company? Should there be a mechanism, such as voting and non-voting shares or a partnership structure, to separate control from the economic interest in the business? If it is going to be a trust structure, what kind of trust and what kind of trustee? In Asia, for example, trust ownership is not uncommon, but where the asset is the shares in a family business, an institutional trustee will want a trust structure that completely carves out and allocates responsibility for control of the shares in the family business to the settlor of the trust and their family. Alternatively, an institutional trustee may recommend a private trust company structure to be run by the settlor and their family, with the institutional trustee providing only administrative support. One reason for needing a legal structure to own the business is to consolidate ownership and prevent fragmentation of the shares. A legal structure is about allocating the benefits of ownership, and control. It should provide an ownership transition plan for the business, and the right one can also help to protect shares from creditor, divorce and illegitimate heir claims. A legal structure such as a trust can potentially allow the shares in the business to be owned by the family for multiple generations. Family meetings to explain the terms of the family trust or other legal structures will ensure there are no surprises in store. Governance Structure The legal structure is not sufficient by itself, so the next point to address is what governance structure would best suit the goals and objectives of the founder and their family. As a minimum, periodic family meetings between the business owners enable them to talk about the relationship between the family and the business. Family meetings should follow an agenda and rules, with someone chairing and another facilitating. These key roles can be rotated among family members, but a family new to formal meetings is likely to use a non-family facilitator. These meetings are not necessarily about decision-making but about ensuring that the family has a voice and creates a fair process. More formal governance structures are a family assembly comprising all family members; a family council, a smaller group that represents the family assembly; and possibly one or more committees of the family council, for example education and development, or career planning. If there’s a family office that manages the liquidity the business generates, it should be a structure separate from the family business, with its own organisation, officers and staff. The family office can help organise the governance structure, and support the activities and initiatives of the family council, which is responsible for ensuring control and overseeing the office. Part of planning the governance structure is reviewing the manner in which the family business has been governed: looking at the composition and the role of the board of directors of the business. There is often a link between the governance structure for the family and the board of directors. In practice, this may be achieved by having overlapping memberships or through arranging occasional meetings between the board and family council. Governance structures provide leadership and direction for the family and its business. They help ensure continued support and commitment to the business, and enable harmony because family members have worked out their differences behind closed doors. And if the founder or family’s goal is to continue the business for generations, there needs to be an organised structure and processes for the owners to make decisions together. Choosing Policies Policies regulate the relationship between the family and the business, but what kind do you need? A family employment policy, a dividend policy or a policy for compensating family members who work in the business? And do you need policies relating to the qualifications for acting as a director? Is there an exit policy governing how shares can be sold? Having the right policies helps avoid predictable conflicts and establishes boundaries between family issues and business matters. Policies make things clear, so everyone is on the same page. "Governance structures provide leadership and direction for the family and its business. They help ensure continued support and commitment to the business" It’s common for the family council to develop the terms of the policies, but it cannot make policies or decisions about the management or operation of the business. In these cases, it can develop and propose the policy to the board of directors, which approves it as necessary. Process Options Finally, there are processes, and which ones are needed to bring the family and business governance system to life. Consider the following example: a business founder sets up a family trust to own the shares in the family business. The trust is structured so the founder controls all the voting rights on the shares. It provides that if the founder dies or becomes incapacitated, control of the voting rights on the shares will pass to their surviving spouse. But what if the spouse does not know anything about being a controlling shareholder in the business? What if the spouse does not understand the trust structure and their potential role in it? What if there is a board but the spouse does not understand its role – that the members of the board could be their representatives in the future and that they have the power to change them? What if the spouse does not understand the strategy of the business or the risk profile of the business? In practice, this is a common scenario. The trust structure in this example may be a good legal structure and it may help the founder keep control and pass legal control to their spouse. It provides an ownership succession plan, but you can see this trust structure is not by itself going to teach the spouse how to be a good owner and business steward. You cannot rely on structure alone to guarantee future success. The types of ongoing processes that business-owning families implement can include education and development of shareholders and owners (whether that ownership is direct, or indirect through a trust), career planning and developing the next generation of family managers and leaders. As the future business will be a more complex environment than the business of today, the next generation need skills in important areas such as communication and conflict resolution, strategic planning and leadership. Different Approaches The traditional approach to selecting and setting up a legal structure for the family business has been to work only with the business founder. In Asia, for example, it is not uncommon to find cases where the legal structure is not fully revealed to the rest of the family members until the founder has died or become incapacitated. In practice, a different kind of approach is taken to design the right governance structures, policies and processes. The most common is either to form a family task force, which may consider options and give proposals to the founder, or to install a series of family meetings, which include the founder, their spouse and adult children, to discuss and design their own governance structure, etc. The founder can control these meetings, but by involving their spouse and children, the rest of the family can get a clear understanding of their goals, wishes and thoughts and they can all work together to develop an approach that has family buy-in and support. The most common approach is to combine the agreed governance structure, policies and processes into a written document known as a family constitution or a family charter. These agreements can be made legally binding but often they are not. The family constitution’s value and effectiveness come from the process of the family members working on it together, considering alternatives, and coming up with their shared understandings of how things should be done. If the legal structure is handled in the same way as the family constitution, the same benefits will be achieved: increased family buy-in, understanding and the ability to get feedback on the basic question of whether or not the proposed legal structure will be workable when the founder is no longer around.

New research for the Dying Matters Coalition shows that the majority of people in Britain have not discussed or made any plans for when they die. As a result, they are risking not getting appropriate end of life care and making it harder for their families to deal with bereavement. The British Social Attitudes (BSA) research found encouraging signs that older people are increasingly taking action to make their end of life wishes known, but that most people are leaving it too late to face up to their own mortality. This is despite the fact that almost two-thirds of us have been bereaved in the last five years. The study revealed that although 70 per cent of the public say they are comfortable talking about death, most of us haven’t done anything to discuss our end of life wishes or put plans in place. It also found that only just over one in three people have a will, down on 39 per cent in 2009, with the impact of economic pressures being a possible cause of this decline. Fewer than a third of people have registered as an organ donor or have a donor card – although the number of organ donations after death has risen by 50% since 2008, more than 1,000 people on the transplant waiting list die each year. Only 11 per cent of people have written down their funeral wishes or made a funeral plan. Despite heightened public anxiety over care of the dying, including concerns about the implementation of the Liverpool Care Pathway, and the Francis Inquiry into failings at Stafford Hospital, the British Social Attitudes findings reveal that just one in twenty of us has an advance care plan, which sets out how we would want to be cared for if we couldn’t make decisions ourselves, for example, would we want to be resuscitated. The research also revealed a major mismatch between where people want to die and where people do currently die. Latest NHS figures show that more than half of us die in hospital. Yet today’s research shows that just seven per cent of us would prefer to die in hospital, compared with two-thirds who would prefer to die at home. This is the first time the authoritative British Social Attitudes survey has asked these questions about dying, although comparisons can be made with similar research carried out in 2009. This shows that older people are becoming more likely to make their end of life wishes known. If applied to the whole British population, today’s findings show that an extra 200,000 people aged 55-75 reported feeling comfortable talking about death in 2012, when the BSA research took place, compared with 2009. It also shows that 400,000 more people aged 55-75 have discussed their end of life wishes or have some written plan for end of life in 2012, compared with 2009. Eve Richardson, Chief Executive of the Dying Matters Coalition and the National Council for Palliative Care, said that while the findings were encouraging, it is clear more needs to be done. She said: “It’s encouraging that older people are becoming more comfortable discussing dying and their end of life wishes, but as a nation too many of us are still shunning the conversations that can help avoid heartbreak and regret at the end of life. You don’t have to be ill or dying to make plans for your future, which is why we are calling on people across the country to take practical steps by writing a will, recording their funeral wishes, planning their future care and support, considering registering as an organ donor and telling loved ones their wishes.” Professor Mayur Lakhani, Chair of the Dying Matters Coalition and a practising GP, said: “There are powerful benefits of having early conversations with people who are approaching the end of their life, as it puts them in control and gives a chance to resolve any life issues. It also means that plans can be made for people to get the care and support that is right for them.” “While more of us than ever are living to a ripe old age, people are also living for longer with dementia and other life limiting conditions, which makes it especially important to talk more openly about the care and support we would want. It’s only by having the conversations that matter and planning ahead that care of the dying will be improved and people will get their end of life wishes met.” Penny Young, Chief Executive of NatCen Social Research, added: “The findings are an excellent example of what the British Social Attitudes survey is for. Most people in our study have discussed dying and many have strong opinions about the end of their life, yet very few have taken any steps to prepare for death. Understanding public attitudes and behaviour around this important public policy issue is essential for organisations like the Dying Matters Coalition if they are to raise awareness and influence policymakers.”

Oxfords Bakery was established by Frank Oxford in 1911 at Alweston, near Sherborne in Dorset. Today, fourth generation Steven is at the helm, a far cry from the DJ lifestyle in Ibiza he did before! What does your family business do? Oxfords Bakery is a 4th generation bakers, still making Traditional English bread and cakes using the same methods (and ovens) as Great Grandfather Frank Oxford in 1911. How did you get involved? I was always expected to join the family business, not by my family, but by all of our customers, suppliers and friends! Naturally this deterred me even more. I turned from music loving teenager in to a professional Nightclub and event DJ and, by my early 20’s had even established a name as an agent for other music acts. During a tour of New Zealand and, actually, right in the middle of a set I was playing during a street festival for Red Bull at the ‘Americas Cup’ yacht race in Auckland, I made up my mind that I wanted to not just work for the family business, but to develop it and make it in to what I believe it should be – the most popular bakery in our county, Dorset. So next time you see a ‘DJ’ at work, wondering what’s on his or her mind, it may not be quite what you’d expect!! What did you want to be when you grew up? An exact replica of my father! What are your first memories of the family business? The first memory of the family business for me was being allowed behind ‘the table’ to mould cottage rolls with my Dad at the Royal Bath and West Show when I was about 5 years old, and then while he was pre-occupied, one of the bakers lifting me up and out of the way to sit on the flour sacks as I was probably slowing up the works. This was the first feeling of burning desire to show what I could do for the business. Needless to say, next year as a great big six year old I was very visibly shadowing my father and helping bake whilst wearing a rather fetching t shirt my mum had provided saying :Get fresh with your local baker’ on it! The other memory that my brother and sister share with me though is the smell and clatter of the tins as we walked into the bake house when we would stay there with our grandparents. Its still the same sounds sights and smells today, but you don’t appreciate them until you’ve been away from baking for a couple of weeks. Good excuse for a holiday I suppose!! What values are important in your family/family business? Our motto has always been ‘quality and tradition’ I think if we maintain these two things then the actual boring business side of things are much the same as most other businesses. It is those two things that keep us unique. There are a few good bakeries I can think of that only have one of these attributes, and no matter how hard our competition try, it is impossible to emulate what we do. (Unless you also have an original Victorian/Edwardian bakery to work from!) What is the best thing about being a family business? The support framework when things get , inevitably, tight or don’t go as planned. We don’t set ourselves many targets for success as a family business, we do , however, know how to celebrate our achievements though. An invite to ‘Oxfest’ would prove that to anyone!! And the worst? Imagine putting in the best financial year in 100 years, exceeding all expectations, growing and developing at a faster rate than you could ever have expected… and then find a post it note with a complaint from your own Mum because you’ve lost a petrol receipt or because your office looks a bit messy! For me, that is about as bad as it gets though – I’m afraid, there are no horror stories here! What is the best thing about your working day? Seeing somebody walking down the street clearly enjoying a product from an ‘Oxford bag’. Also, hearing a tale from a customer who says that one of your products is their ‘favourite food’. I only need to hear that once a year to get me out of bed in the mornings. A real pleasure. What is your proudest family business achievement? Our centenary year has to be up there. Shared by all of us proudly, as you can imagine. My father decide that he wanted to take the business to 100 years, come hell or high water. This doesn’t sound like a great ambition until you realise he decided that 51 years ago!! I had the good fortune to meet Richard Branson last year and even he said: “ now that is a real achievement” You can’t argue with that really! Is there a next generation waiting in the wings to take over? Ha Ha, there is now but only just as they have only just been born but there is absolutely no way on earth that I would ever pressure or even suggest my children be involved in the business though. Look forward to teaching the values of hard work, finance and reward, but they are way down the list after things like messing about, laughing, running around with your arms out like an aeroplane for 3 hours solid etc as life is there to be enjoyed first and foremost. What do you see as the biggest challenge facing family businesses? Copy cat businesses is a real threat to our sector as there isn’t much legislation as to what real bread actually is. Despite the Real Bread Campaign doing a good job of promoting small and honest bakery businesses, they are dwindling. In fact, there were approximately 20,000 small bakeries in the UK 25 years ago and there are now only about 3,000 left. Supermarkets can use words like ‘fresh,’ ‘craft’ and ‘wholesome’ at will! We have some local competition that even has a sign in the window saying ‘traditional artisan breads’ yet they are made on a plant/production line!! It does grate a bit when you have given up nearly every Friday night of your life to actually do it properly! Rant over! What words do you associate with family businesses? Passion. Values. Ethics. Tradition. Words Of wisdom – What piece of advice would you pass on to someone thinking about joining the family business? DADS ARE ALWAYS RIGHT!!! Knowing when they are not, and being able to make subtle changes, is the key to success.

Fracino is the UK’s only manufacturer of cappuccino and espresso machines and associated equipment and was 50 years old in 2013. Managing Director Adrian Maxwell shared his thoughts with Paul Andrews. What does your family business do? Fracino is the UK’s only manufacturer of cappuccino and espresso machines and associated equipment. We are celebrating our 50th anniversary in 2013 and are very proud to have been awarded the title of the UK’s top manufacturer and the UK’s Outstanding Export award from the manufacturer’s association the EEF. How did you get involved? I’ve been involved with the business ever since I was a baby when my dad, Fracino founder Frank Maxwell, took me in a carry cot to our customers in Leicester and Birmingham in the heady 60s before we’d started manufacturing and were repairing machines. After leaving school at 16 I went to Rolls-Royce for four years and completed my technical apprenticeship and HND. I next took on a couple of jobs which included manufacturing and selling agricultural gates and fittings before joining Fracino full time aged 23 as a service engineer. At that time dad could not complete the volume of work on his own and there were just the two of us compared to the 40-strong team we employ today. What did you want to be when you grew up? I always wanted to be an engineer from a toddler. Our house, garden and workshop were always heaving with cars and machines being repaired which would drive my mum to distraction. I loved learning how to take things apart and reassemble them. We must have been the neighbours from hell with all incessant hammering and banging at all hours of the night! What are your first memories of the family business? My first really clear memories are going with dad when I was about five years old to see long standing customer Geoff Rossa at Cafe Bocca in Leicester in our new – well new to us – Morris J4 van. Geoff has been a valued customer and friend for 50 years (as long as we’ve been in business) and I would happily sit on top of his counter changing the steam valve washers. What values are important in your family/family business? Trust, respect, transparency – and openness. My respect for my dad Frank is enormous – and he is my business hero. As a family we value our hard work ethos and quality driven culture – always striving to do everything to the best of our ability. What is the best thing about being a family business? Being united in a common goal and supporting each other while sharing our business experiences as a close knit family unit which is always travelling in the same direction. And the worst? The fact that we never escape from our work and find it nigh on impossible to switch off when we’re at home. I’m the biggest culprit by far! What is the best thing about your working day? Getting up for work – every day I’m excited about what the day will bring even though many of them are hijacked before they get off the ground. No one day is the same and I relish the opportunities and challenges each one brings. What is your proudest family business achievement? Being awarded the EEF’s UK’s Winner of Winners Award this January this year. It’s the highest honour the EEF can bestow on a British manufacturer and reflects how, in four years, we built a global export business which now exports to over 50 countries. Is there a next generation waiting in the wings to take over? Definitely – outside of Frank our founder and Marion my wife who is our credit controller, our daughters Rebecca and Katrina work as service coordinator and purchase ledger respectively. Our son David is currently training to be an engineer at Leeds University and works with us during his holidays. What do you see as the biggest challenge facing family businesses? Succession planning is critical – as is keeping things on an even keel and identifying and managing any potential sibling rivalry. We wholeheartedly believe in the adage that ‘the whole is greater than the sum of its parts’. What words do you associate with family businesses? Unity, trust, hard work, stability, reliability, tenacity, transparency and quality driven for starters. We’re all in this together which has proved a powerful formula for our success. Words of wisdom – What piece of advice would you pass on to someone thinking about joining the family business? Join it for the right reasons, not because you feel obligated – the worst possible reason. Also, if you do believe its right and it does not work out then bow out gracefully and move on as opposed to being miserable. We only have one life so it’s vital to be fulfilled by what we do for a living.

Fracino is the UK’s only manufacturer of cappuccino and espresso machines and associated equipment and was 50 years old in 2013. Managing Director Adrian Maxwell shared his thoughts with Paul Andrews. What does your family business do? Fracino is the UK’s only manufacturer of cappuccino and espresso machines and associated equipment. We are celebrating our 50th anniversary in 2013 and are very proud to have been awarded the title of the UK’s top manufacturer and the UK’s Outstanding Export award from the manufacturer’s association the EEF. How did you get involved? I’ve been involved with the business ever since I was a baby when my dad, Fracino founder Frank Maxwell, took me in a carry cot to our customers in Leicester and Birmingham in the heady 60s before we’d started manufacturing and were repairing machines. After leaving school at 16 I went to Rolls-Royce for four years and completed my technical apprenticeship and HND. I next took on a couple of jobs which included manufacturing and selling agricultural gates and fittings before joining Fracino full time aged 23 as a service engineer. At that time dad could not complete the volume of work on his own and there were just the two of us compared to the 40-strong team we employ today. What did you want to be when you grew up? I always wanted to be an engineer from a toddler. Our house, garden and workshop were always heaving with cars and machines being repaired which would drive my mum to distraction. I loved learning how to take things apart and reassemble them. We must have been the neighbours from hell with all incessant hammering and banging at all hours of the night! What are your first memories of the family business? My first really clear memories are going with dad when I was about five years old to see long standing customer Geoff Rossa at Cafe Bocca in Leicester in our new – well new to us – Morris J4 van. Geoff has been a valued customer and friend for 50 years (as long as we’ve been in business) and I would happily sit on top of his counter changing the steam valve washers. What values are important in your family/family business? Trust, respect, transparency – and openness. My respect for my dad Frank is enormous – and he is my business hero. As a family we value our hard work ethos and quality driven culture – always striving to do everything to the best of our ability. What is the best thing about being a family business? Being united in a common goal and supporting each other while sharing our business experiences as a close knit family unit which is always travelling in the same direction. And the worst? The fact that we never escape from our work and find it nigh on impossible to switch off when we’re at home. I’m the biggest culprit by far! What is the best thing about your working day? Getting up for work – every day I’m excited about what the day will bring even though many of them are hijacked before they get off the ground. No one day is the same and I relish the opportunities and challenges each one brings. What is your proudest family business achievement? Being awarded the EEF’s UK’s Winner of Winners Award this January this year. It’s the highest honour the EEF can bestow on a British manufacturer and reflects how, in four years, we built a global export business which now exports to over 50 countries. Is there a next generation waiting in the wings to take over? Definitely – outside of Frank our founder and Marion my wife who is our credit controller, our daughters Rebecca and Katrina work as service coordinator and purchase ledger respectively. Our son David is currently training to be an engineer at Leeds University and works with us during his holidays. What do you see as the biggest challenge facing family businesses? Succession planning is critical – as is keeping things on an even keel and identifying and managing any potential sibling rivalry. We wholeheartedly believe in the adage that ‘the whole is greater than the sum of its parts’. What words do you associate with family businesses? Unity, trust, hard work, stability, reliability, tenacity, transparency and quality driven for starters. We’re all in this together which has proved a powerful formula for our success. Words of wisdom – What piece of advice would you pass on to someone thinking about joining the family business? Join it for the right reasons, not because you feel obligated – the worst possible reason. Also, if you do believe its right and it does not work out then bow out gracefully and move on as opposed to being miserable. We only have one life so it’s vital to be fulfilled by what we do for a living.