Fine tune the business acumen

Gauri Chhabra

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 how to fuel their business growth. The conference at IIT, Mumbai brought together the best 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 per cent of the companies in the Fortune Global 500”, states The Economist. In India alone, 67 per cent 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 per cent will be emerging-market family firms.

Thus there is a demand for Family Business Management Programmes whether you are in a successful family business or you are into  a business facing challenges and trying to bring about a changeover.

A course in Family Business Management that  helps students understand how to capitalise on the strengths, navigate the challenges, and guard against the weaknesses of the companies and the families that own them.

Are these mutually exclusive?

If this makes you think that family business management programmes are incompatible to entrepreneurship 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.

Making the right choice

In the world of family business, 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 an MBA in entrepreneurship. 

However, if you wish to join your family business then you are supposed to take care of and grow the founder’s vision. And in this case an MBA in Entrepreneurship would be more helpful. 

Therefore, it is imperative that you make the right and informed choice…

Family Business Management programme vs MBA in Entrepreneurship

MBA in Family Business Management and in entrepreneurship both 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  sustaining, scaling and growing existing businesses. The content and pedagogy includes concepts of entrepreneurship, business sustainability, market trends, which thereby lead to portfolio expansion and business growth. The programme would help you evaluate the state of your family businesses and gear you towards accelerating your business to the next level.

Where to study

Institutes for Entrepreneurial Management:

• Xavier School of Management (XLRI), Jamshedpur, offers a full-time six-month Post Graduate Programme for Certificate in Entrepreneurship Management (PGPCEM).
• Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, Gandhinagar, offers a two-year, full-time, residential Post Graduate Diploma in Management-Business Entrepreneurship (PGDM-BE).
• SP Jain Institute of Management and Research, Mumbai, offers Start Your Business Certification Program (SYB), Grow Your Business Certification Program (GYB), The Entrepreneurial Manager (TEM).
• Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai, offers MBA in Social Entrepreneurship
• Xavier Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship, Bangalore, offers one-year Entrepreneurial Development Programme (EDP)
• Nirma Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, offers regular two-year MBA specialising in Family Business & Entrepreneurship.
• Amity Business School , Noida, offers MBA in Entrepreneurship
• IIM, Bangalore, offers specialisation in Entrepreneurs & Family Businesses.
• IIM Udaipur,  offers Management Development Program for Women Entrepreneurs.
• National Institute for Entrepreneurship & Small Business Development (NIESBUD), Delhi, 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.