Case Studies in Family Business

Edited by Roland E. Kidwell, Carl DeSantis Distinguished Professor of Management and Entrepreneurship, Department of Management Programs, College of Business, Florida Atlantic University, US

Contents

Introduction: dealing with the dark side of family firms, case by case 1
Roland E. Kidwell

PART I FAMILY FIGHTS: PARENTS, CHILDREN AND SIBLINGS
1 Navigating relational rifts and communication clashes in the Peyton
family firm 9
Gaia Marchisio, Eric R. Kushins and Robert Randolph
2 Brotherly battles at Brew Corp: “family firms should be forbidden
by law” 26
Dagmar Y. Hattenberg, Erik Veldhuizen and Judith van Helvert
3 Feuding siblings: sowing the seeds of conflict in the family business 38
Unai Arzubiaga, Amaia Maseda and Javier Macías
4 Tuskys Supermarket: the good, the bad and the ugly in the Kago
family business 49
William Murithi and Sally Kah
5 Stahlmann GmbH: everything lost due to intergenerational conflict 63
Sandra Fiedler
6 Dee Doks’ family business conflicts: culture or nurture? 73
Folashade O. Akinyemi

PART II SUCCESSION STRUGGLES (AND SUCCESSES): THE NEXT
GENERATIONS
7 Schmidt Print and Media – a family business in upheaval 87
Christopher Khoury, Christine Keller and Nadine Kammerlander
8 Heladería Roma: challenges of succession in a climate of distrust 96
Pablo Álamo and Unai Arzubiaga
9 RAJ General Supplies Limited: three daughters take over the family
business 111
William Murithi and Karumba Kinyua
10 Preventing history from repeating itself: the succession process at
De Berg 121
Astrid Kramer and Miranda Stienstra

PART III CORPORATE GOVERNANCE – OR LACK THEREOF
11 The Johnsons unveiled: a family’s clash of values, business, and
philanthropy 128
Małgorzata Smulowitz and Peter Vogel
12 The past catches up with everyone: legal failures of the previous
generation threaten a family firm’s future 138
Jan Klaus Tänzler and Annegret Hauer
13 Sport sponsoring at Royal Jumbo Food Group: a double-edged sword 147
Miranda Stienstra, Astrid Kramer and Ties van Daal
14 The enemy at home: diversification and professionalization at BOMBE 156
María Jesús Hernández-Ortiz, Manuel Carlos Vallejo-Martos,
Myriam Cano-Rubio and Francisca Panadés-Zamora

PART IV BAD BEHAVIOR IN THE FAMILY BUSINESS
15 Landscape plus 169
Steve Gaklis
16 Jacobson Hardware Store: overcoming conflict, dysfunction, and
death in a family business 183
John James Cater III
17 Lost in transitions? 194
Cristina Alvarado-Alvarez and Martin C. Euwema
18 Frutas y Verduras San Miguel: gambling with the future of the family firm 200
Pablo Álamo and Unai Arzubiaga
19 Blinded by trust: a cousin’s fraud threatens a family business 212
Ellison Howard
Afterword 219