Though the family-run enterprise has been a vital component of the global economy for centuries, it has rarely been recognized as an influential branch of business. However, recent years has seen increasing interest in the topic from media to academia, signaling that the family business is finally receiving its due.
“I think we’re becoming more legitimate as a field,” said Dr. Joseph Horak, Director of the Family Owned Business Institute at the Seidman College of Business at Grand Valley State University. “Historically, business education used to think about family business as an inferior business model. They were like the lesser business that someday grows up and becomes public, a small mom and pop; when in reality it’s quite different.”
Part of this increase in recognition for multi-generational family business can be attributed to the Family Enterprise Case Competition (FECC) hosted annually by the Grossman School of Business at the University of Vermont (UVM) in Burlington, Vermont. Hundreds of the most promising young minds and thought leaders in family business travel from around the world to compete at FECC, in the hopes of not only winning the competition, but also networking and exchanging ideas with their family business peers.
“This is such a great experience for our students, especially the family business students being with other students with the same philosophy, background, and understanding about how family businesses work and the unique dynamics,” said Alex McKelvie, coach of the Syracuse University, Whitman School of Management team. “We want them to experience that.”
George Frantzis, a UVM student who served as a team ambassador during FECC and is a fourth generation member of his family’s business (Quassy Amusement Park), shared similar sentiments. “I think the competition brings more intrinsic value to business as a whole,” he says. “It’s not all about dollars and cents. At the end of the day the reason you remain sustainable is heart and soul. Culture and family. Those are the two things brought together here.”
After three days of rigorous competition, Universidad Panamericana Aguascalientes from Mexico, and for the third consecutive year, Jönköping International Business School from Sweden, emerged as the respective Undergraduate and Graduate winners.
Dean Sanjay Sharma of the UVM Grossman School of Business shared his optimism for the future of FECC and family business, explaining “The excitement FECC is generating from teams, judges and students from 5 continents, is testament to the increasing focus on family businesses by business schools, and the competition providing a unique experiential learning platform for all the schools and universities who participate.”
He added, “The recent ranking of the Grossman School of Business in the top 25 programs in the world for its expertise in family business, highlights the fact that UVM has become one of the leading global educational institutions in this important field.”
For more information about FECC, please visit uvm.edu/business/fecc.
Image Credits: Duback Photography
