FAST FACTS for Privately-Held  Business

Top Ten Areas Where Family Businesses Need Guidance

      1.   Growth Planning
      2.   Organization Design
      3.   Operational Effectiveness
      4.   Leadership/Management
      5.   Compensation
      6.   Communication
      7.   Customer Service
      8.   Risk Management/Succession Planning
      9.   Management and Ownership Transition 
     10.  Global Perspective

- Journal of Accountancy, July 2002

Ownership                                                                                                                   

Of small business owners, women:

• own 17% of all small business
• account for 3.7% of all small business sales
• account for 6.5% of all small business employees
• account for 4.6% of annual small business payrolls.

- U.S. Census Bureau, July 2005

59% of small businesses with employees are owned by 1 individual or a married couple.
27% have 2 or more owners.
14% have 3 or more owners.
3% of small businesses have increased the # of owners over the last 3 years.
4% have decreased the number of owners.
93% have not changed it.

- National Federation of Independent Businesses

Leading Family Owned Firms                                                                                 

34% of family firms expect the next CEO to be a woman; 52% of participants hire at least one female family member full time, while 10% employ two female family members of the same status. Of CEOs due to retire within five years aged 61 or older, 55% have not yet chosen their replacement.

- Raymond Institute/MassMutual, American Family Business Survey, 2003)

A recent study by the Marquette University’s Center for Family Business reports that one in four family firms plans to name a non-family member as their next CEO.  The study also found that 60 percent of family business owners who plan on retiring in the next five years have not identified a successor.

- Family Business Magazine E-Newsletter, April 5, 2004

The leadership of 39% of family-owned businesses will have changed hands in the next five years.

- Raymond Institute/MassMutual, American Family Business Survey, 2003

Starting Businesses                                                                                                  

Around the world 2,200 new businesses are started every day.  91% of the entrepreneurs who start and operate business are confident of their success.  And yet there are 2,100 business failures around the world every day.  95% of new businesses fail, but 91% of the people who start them are confident of their success!  The conclusion is there is a huge disconnect in how entrepreneurs view their chances for success and their actual, real life results.

Source:  Business Think, Covey Leadership Center, Inc.

The greatest part of America’s wealth lies with family-owned businesses. Family firms comprise 80% to 90% of all business enterprises in North America.

- J.H. Astrachan and M.C. Shanker, “Family Businesses’ Contribution to the U.S. Economy: A Closer Look,” Family Business Review, September 2003

More than 30% of all family-owned businesses survive into the second generation. Twelve percent will still be viable into the third generation, with 3% of all family businesses operating at the fourth-generation level and beyond.

- Joseph Astrachan, Ph.D., editor, Family Business Review

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