Importance of Family Business Management
Ready to be at the wheel?
March 10 and 11, 2018 gave aspiring and budding entrepreneurs an opportunity to connect and collaborate. As the best and brightest minds came together and brainstormed on on how to fuel their business growth. It is the most important aspect in any of the business. The conference at IIT Mumbai brought together the best breed of entrepreneurs, innovators, venture capitalists, business model creators, consultants, policy-makers, academicians, and business practitioners to present and discuss innovation and success under the aegis of entrepreneurship for Small and Medium Businesses.Over the past decade or so, in the dilemma between joining family owned businesses and higher studies. The scales have been tipping towards entrepreneurship and joining family owned businesses.Let us explore the genesis and the reason why:The Genesis
Today, family-owned businesses account for two-thirds of the world’s businesses and generate most of the world’s economic output, employment and wealth. In many regions of the world, family companies dominate the economy. “Family-controlled firms now make up 19% of the companies in the Fortune Global 500,” states The Economist. In India alone, 67% businesses are family run. McKinsey forecasts, that by 2025,there will be more than 15,000 companies worldwide with at least $1 billion in annual revenues, of which 37% will be emerging-market family firms.The need
There is a need for Family Business Management Programs whether you are in a successful family business or you are into a business facing challenges and trying to bring about a changeover.Successful family business:Successful family businesses are successful because families see important changes in their industry. Simply put, successful families are entrepreneurial. Also,families succeed because they invest in productive activities, emphasise growing assets, and consume relatively little of their wealth. These families maintain a culture that encourages family members to create things of lasting value. It’s not surprising that these families encourage entrepreneurs. Furthermore,successful families remain reasonably united, keeping supportive members loyal to one another and to the family’s mission. Over generations, as families become more diverse, it is likely that only a few relatives per generation will directly work in the business.Outside-the-business members might still support family philanthropic efforts or social activities, and sometimes that level of involvement is enough to maintain family unity. But investing in family entrepreneurs can also keep talented members contributing to the broader family’s wealth and mission. Investing in family entrepreneurs has to be done objectively based on the feasibility of their business plans, and also fairly within the family. Even if some entrepreneurial projects don’t succeed, these investments will help you spot talent to keep your business growing. And you are sending an important message: this family is committed to creating value.Family businesses – facing challenges
While family businesses on average are stronger performers than other types of enterprise, they face distinct challenges that need to be managed. This constraint often kills the family business.This creates the need for a course of study in Family Business Management that helps students understand how to capitalize on the strengths, navigate the challenges, and guard against the weaknesses of the companies and the families that own them.How is Family Business Management program different from an MBA in Entrepreneurship?
Both Family Business Management and an MBA in Entrepreneurship prepare you for setting up and gearing your own business. However, there is a subtle difference. Unlike MBA in Entrepreneurship which prepares students for a setting up a business, the Family Business Management programme is targeted at family business owners looking to sustain, scale and grow their businesses. The content and pedagogy includes concepts of entrepreneurship, business sustainability, market trends which thereby lead to portfolio expansion and business growth. The program would help you evaluate the state of your family businesses and gear you towards accelerating your business to the next level.Colleges/Institutes for Entrepreneurial Management
Xavier School of Management (XLRI),Jamshedpur, offering a full-time six-month Post Graduate Programme for Certificate in Entrepreneurship Management (PGPCEM).Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, Gandhinagar,offering a two-year, full-time, residential Post Graduate Diploma in Management-Business Entrepreneurship (PGDM-BE).SP Jain Institute of Management and Research – Mumbai,Start Your Business Certification Program (SYB), Grow Your Business Certification Program (GYB), The Entrepreneurial Manager (TEM).Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies,Mumbai,M.B.A in Social EntrepreneurshipXavier Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship – Bangalore, offering one year Entrepreneurial Development Programme (EDP)Nirma Institute of Management,Ahmedabad,offering regular two-year MBA specialising in Family Business & Entrepreneurship.Amity Business School,Noida, offering two year M.B.A in EntrepreneurshipIIM, Bangalore, specialization in Entrepreneurs & Family Businesses.IIM Udaipur, Management Development Program for Women Entrepreneurs.National Institute for Entrepreneurship & Small Business Development (NIESBUD), Delhi
The NIESBUD is an apex institute in the area of entrepreneurship and small business development under the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Government of India. It oversees the activities of various institutions and agencies engaged in entrepreneurship development, particularly in the area of small industry and small business. It also provides numerous training and development courses for budding entrepreneurs and small businesses.Making the right choice:
In the world of family business, the entrepreneurs we celebrate are usually founders of companies. If you wish to be a founder of a company, start your new venture and learn how to navigate, go in for a pure MBA in Entrepreneurship. However, if you wish to join your family business and are supposed to take care of and grow the founder’s creation, you are not expected to be entrepreneurs but to understand and carry forward the vision of the founder,an MBA in Entrepreneurship would be more helpful.Therefore, it is imperative that you make the right and informed choice…Are these mutually exclusive?
If this makes you think that family business management programs are incompatible to entrepreneurship. The reason is because they are for students who are in family businesses that are usually tradition-bound, multi- generational. Let me tell you, we need to blur the lines here. The family businesses need to be more entrepreneurial. They need to pass on the entrepreneurial mindset and capabilities. To create new streams of wealth across many generations- not just pass the business on from one generation to the next. We need to come up with the concept of ‘family entrepreneurship’. When a leadership transition occurs in a family business, the new generation of leadership should be careful to maintain and build on the networks and knowledge of the former leaders, while expanding their own networks. This will insure that the business can continue to be entrepreneurial into the future.And when they do, the distinction between Entrepreneurship and Family Business Management studies would begin to blur…
Why You Must Learn SEO
Every website owner wants his website to climb to the top of the search engine results pages – and stay there. But climbing to the top and staying there takes a whole lot of doing, and there is only one way that can take you there – and that’s Search Engine Optimization (SEO). If you want to become a SEO professional then you must first learn SEO.SEO is the biggest thing happening in the market right now because there are millions of websites, and each website owner desperately wants his website to be found in the top results of mainline search engines like Google, Bing, and yahoo. Every website owner has 100s of competitors breathing down his neck in the physical world – the situation gets worse in the online world because competitors keep recruiting affiliates leading to 1000s of competitors for any product.SEO helps cut through the noise and make the website stand out. This is why learning SEO can ensure either a steady, well-paying job or a flourishing business, depending on your inclination. Even if you are a website owner, you must learn SEO because it will help you understand the market better.Reasons why you must learn SEO1. SEO is indispensable. No website can do without it. Without SEO, a website will perish, it’s as simple as that. The number of websites will continue to increase, and it makes sense to learn SEO because it is part of an industry that’s booming.2. An SEO course gives the student a 360-degree view on Internet marketing. The student learns what can impact a website and how, and this knowledge helps the student brainstorm niche and creative Internet marketing strategies.3. SEO can help website owners score way high over their competitors. SEO is a very creative area where words and codes combine to make a website popular. A SEO student, therefore, also gets to learn how websites are made and how their code can be optimized.4. SEO is dynamic. Its tactics keep changing over time. A SEO professional has a lot to look forward to in the subject. It is also important that the student always keeps himself up to date with what’s happening in the SEO world.5. SEO students learn how to create a technically-perfect website that can be easily found by search engines. This is invaluable knowledge.6. When SEO professionals increase a website’s visibility, their name spreads across the industry. People tag them as experts in the field and they get assignments falling into their lap without any effort.7. SEO students also learn about the good and evil SEO practices. They understand how black hat SEO techniques can harm a website. Moreover, performing legitimate SEO techniques in an ethical manner helps a website build up its credibility.These are the reasons why website owners and aspiring SEO practitioners must learn SEO. Students must also realize that SEO is a complex and long process covering a large field of practice. It just cannot produce overnight results. SEO takes time for its magic to work – but one thing’s certain, it works, and how!
Methodologies of Online Education
There were many myths and misconceived notions about online education until recent past. Some people believed that online learning is a good option only for students who have a good track record. It was also believed that only those students having access to computers and modern means of communication would benefit from online education. However, with time such notions are giving way to an open acceptance where people have started accepting online education as a viable alterative for conventional education.Not all online education options have a similar methodology and approach. There are various modes of online education available and it would be better if you have an understanding of different methodologies in use by online education providers so that you can select the course with the methodology that suits you the best. Here we are discussing the learning methodologies for online education:Online Education Methodologies- Different OptionsLive: This methodology is also known as synchronous mode of learning. In this mode of online education, there is instant communication between the students and teachers and at times even among different students. Herein all the participants get access to information simultaneously. Virtual classroom using the facility of video or audio conferencing and real-time chat are some examples of this mode of online education.This learning methodology has its advantages and disadvantages. This mode is more akin to the conventional education except for the fact that the students don’t have to travel to the classrooms. The biggest advantage of synchronous method of online education is that it allows instant feedback for the student’s performance and allows active interaction among the students and teachers. Thus the students can get the training and education that is tailored suit their needs. Moreover, live education also facilitates the setting up of learning communities and groups for a better interaction among the learners.This method has the disadvantage that the students cannot plan their schedule and they are bound by the pre-set schedule.Asynchronous: Asynchronous mode of online education is popularly termed as store and forward education. In this method, the communication between the student and teacher is not instant. Self-paced courses are the examples of asynchronous online education where the students communicate with the teachers and amongst themselves by exchanging emails and posting messages on online bulletin boards and discussing groups. This is the more popular mode of online education because it offers more convenience and flexibility to the students and they can decide the pace and schedule for their education and training.Despite of the advantages, this mode of online education has its disadvantages too. The students in this mode of learning, lack discipline and motivation and generally tend to develop a lackluster attitude towards education.The mixed mode of learning in online education combines the advantages of both the modes and it is a combination of personal lectures or face-to-face interaction learning through online activities.Now that you have a better understanding of different methodologies of online education, you can pick up the right one for you and enhance your skills.