Background

Family businesses are characterized by an overlapping of family and business interests. About 12 million family businesses in the United States are estimated to account for well over half of the U.S. gross domestic product. It is estimated that 70% of all family business fail to make the transition into the second generation and only 10% into the third generation. The successful management and growth of family businesses is critical to the growth of the economy.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Family Business Forum is to provide an educational environment for family enterprises to develop strategies to deal with unique personal, family or business challenges. The Forum offers quarterly seminars that are conducted by nationally recognized experts who have had hands-on experience dealing with the same challenges and frustrations of family businesses. These sessions provide opportunities for members to learn from dynamic presentations and interactive workshops.

The Forum Programs assist participants in managing personal and family relationships that are unique to family businesses. A confidential learning environment is established to enable participants to discuss problems and solutions with other family business members. Our goal is to provide a wealth of valuable information that can help families in business achieve their personal, family and business goals. To foster the environment so necessary for trust and sharing information, proceedings of the Forum are confidential to the participants.

Quarterly Seminar Topics

The Forum provides educational programs on a variety of topics that deal with business, relationships and other trends in the field. Some of these topics are:

• Professionalizing the Business
  
• Management of Conflict
• Succession
• Organizational Dynamics
• Sons, Daughters and Relatives in the Business
• Sibling Rivalry
• Work Ethic
• Compensation of Family Members
• Ownership and Management Boundaries
• Federal Tax Law Impact on Family Business
• Successful Multi-generational Families in Business
• Family Meetings
• Advisory Councils
• Board of Directors
• Family Teams
• Business Ethics

Location

The Family Business Forum is located at the University of Memphis in the College of Business and Economics. The meetings are held in Fogelman Executive Conference Center.

• About the Directors of the Family Business Forum

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