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Evolving Roles on the Pathway to Generational Transition

Catharina Jecklin

Product #:W37623
Supplier:Ivey/Bond
Discipline:Entrepreneurship, General Management
Setting:Australia, 2022
Details:Case (PDF) • 8 pages • 2024-10-03

Subjects:

Organizational changeCorporate governanceFinancial restructuringDecision makingOrganizational developmentBusiness managementInsolvencyDecision making and problem solvingFamily businessesGrowth strategyLeadership transitionsBusiness structuresCorporate strategyLeadershipEntrepreneurship

Industries:

Construction and engineering

Geography:

Australia and OceaniaAustralia
Your Price:$10.54

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In 2022, Australia-based property and home development company Douglas Family Group was full of internal conflict. The co-owned family business had recently decided that changes were needed in order to grow and secure a stable family income for the future. To that end, the company brought in non-family advisers and board members, and eventually hired a non-family chief executive officer (CEO). However, the organizational changes did not go smoothly, due to the myriad challenges of introducing external employees to a family business. Soon, family members and top management alike started to complain that the changes did not work and demanded that the previous CEO, a second-generation Douglas family member, come back to fix things. As revenue decreased and conflict spread, the family knew it only had one chance to fix things and save the company. What was the best course of action to get back on track?

Learning Objectives

The case is best suited for family business, entrepreneurship, and corporate governance courses. It is appropriate for master of business administration and undergraduate business students. The situation and events described in the case can help students appreciate the complex issues related to managing growth-oriented firms, particularly growth-oriented family firms, and related challenges in identifying and implementing a corporate governance structure that supports company strategy. This case also provides opportunities for students to explore the relationship between trust and control in an organizational context and how these dynamics influence, and are influenced by, the corporate governance structure. More specifically, after working through the case and assignment questions, students will be able to do the following:

  • Describe the different organizational life cycle stages and their related challenges for growth.
  • Discuss the importance of assessing, developing, and implementing corporate governance structures, particularly in the context of family ownership and related decision-making processes.
  • Develop an understanding of the interrelatedness of trust and control in organizational settings and how this relates to stewardship theory.
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Case Study: Evolving Roles on the Pathway to Generational Transition (English version) | Ivey Publishing