Tàpies Lloret, Josep; Nueno Iniesta, Pedro
Many family companies are engendered with the entrepreneurial spirit of their founders, but how can that spirit be kept alive from generation to generation? In their white paper, published by Credit Suisse, IESE professors Pedro Nueno and Josep Tàpies examine the relationship between entrepreneurial spirit, business management and family-owned business.
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Tàpies Lloret, Josep
While it is sometimes true that family businesses do not survive past the first generation, and that most SMEs, in Spain at least, are family-run, it cannot be presumed that all family businesses are SMEs, nor that a family business is, by definition, shorter lived than a non-family one. A new book by IESE Prof. Josep Tàpies redresses these and other common myths.
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Gironell, M.; Lagares, J.; Tàpies Lloret, Josep
Skydiving holds valuable lessons for business: meticulous training, courage, managing teams, selecting the best people and, above all, a sense of mission to take the big leap. These ideas serve as the inspiration for a new book, written in the form of a novel, in which a man learns to sort out the family-run holding that he manages by confronting another challenge: breaking the world record for free falling in formation.
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Koblut, P.; Tàpies Lloret, Josep; Fraguas Solé, Rafael
An unprecedented spate of corporate scandals marked the start of this millennium, but the upside was that it spawned new corporate governance codes in many countries and organizations. In their paper "Review of Selected Generally Accepted Corporate Governance Codes," Przemyslaw Koblut, Josep Tàpies and Rafael Fraguas look at the essential ingredients of the approaches taken in Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. They compare the four European countries on various important aspects of corporate governance, including the mission and functions of boards of directors and how board members should be evaluated and remunerated.
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Chiner, Alfonso; Tàpies Lloret, Josep
As Confucius said, "Govern a family as you would cook a small fish - very gently." Wise words when it comes to the issue of governance in a family business. In their technical notes, "Governance of the Family Business (Gobierno de la familia empresaria)," IESE Prof. Josep Tàpies, Chair of Family-Owned Business, and fellow researcher Alfonso Chiner assert that if people accept the principle that companies in general require management controls for the purpose of coordinating and harmonizing employees toward accomplishing some goal, then family businesses should not be any different. Therein lies the problem: family businesses are different and must be treated on their own terms. Taking account of the delicate nature of family businesses, the authors suggest 10 tips for good governance to ensure that blood and business get mixed, not shed.
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Contreras, Ignacio; Gómez López-Egea, Sandalio; Tàpies Lloret, Josep
Always know what you're signing is a trusty business maxim. Easier said than done if you work in a family-owned company, where sentiment sometimes blurs professional boundaries, and contractual arrangements are ill-defined, if they are known at all. To analyze these and other issues, IESE professors Sandalio Gómez and Josep Tàpies surveyed a range of family businesses, discovering that not only do most family members not know the details of the contract that binds them to the company, but, even worse, their companies lack the proper mechanisms for regulating their contracts. Their study, "Upper Management Contracts within the Family Business" ("Contratos de alta dirección en empresas familiares"), offers a number of recommendations for eliminating such deficiencies.
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Neumann, Frederic A.; Tàpies Lloret, Josep
Friedrich Jacob Merck probably couldn't have imagined what would become of Engel-Apotheke, the little chemist's shop in Darmstad, in the west of Germany, which he acquired in 1668. What started as a small business is now one of the most powerful pharmaceutical firms in the world, with a market presence of 168 companies in 54 countries, with 53 production facilities in another 24 countries. It is without doubt a model family business. In the cases "The Heritage of Merck KgaA" and "Creating a Family-Company Balance in Merck KgaA," MBA student Frederic Neumann and Professor Josep Tàpies, both of IESE, analyze the evolution of the business, which, thanks to the founding family's pioneering spirit and their commitment to quality, has reached the heights of corporate success.
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Nueno Iniesta, Pedro; Tàpies Lloret, Josep; Rodríguez, Antonio
Suggesting to a business person that he sell his company, especially if it's a family company, is like lying to the devil. The mere idea makes him shiver because "the company" is not just a business but a "life project," which he will abandon only in extreme situations. Nevertheless, in many cases, selling may well be the best solution for both the company and the family. In this study, IESE Professors Pedro Nueno and Josep Tàpies, along with research associate Alejandro Rodríguez, tackle the subject by presenting "a sale" as a possible alternative, and by offering some ideas to consider when it is the best option.
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Tàpies Lloret, Josep; Romances, J.M.; Ukolova, E.; Tomàs, J.; Destrée, R.
Companies in Andorra, mostly family-owned, have in recent years grown beyond the principality's Pyrenean borders. International expansion is chief on the agenda. In the study "Internacionalización de la empresa familiar andorrana" ("Internationalization of Andorran Family Businesses"), Josep Tàpies, Professor and Chair of Family-Owned Business at IESE, collaborates with other experts to analyze the patterns of expansion among Andorran family firms. The study suggests how the firms' international growth might be strengthened by both institutional and private means.
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Tàpies Lloret, Josep; Lasarte, M.J.; Gramajo, Eliana
Investors are learning to appreciate the benefits - in terms of efficiency, value creation and transparency - of holding companies to high standards of good governance. We know a lot about the governance codes of companies listed on the world's stock markets. Yet, when it comes to unlisted companies, we know very little. According to this study by Josep Tàpies, in collaboration with IESE's International Center for Financial Research (CIIF), bringing in private equity partners who respect good governance might usher in a more professional management style and a kind of "corporate democracy."
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