Family-run Business Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Family-run Business - Case Study Example The management primary involves family members though there may be hiring of external labor on special cases or when the business has expended and the family members cannot meet the labor demand of the business. Therefore in this case the business may hire the work of other experts to assist in running the business more so in areas where it feels that it cannot raise enough labor to meet the demands of the business. For example the business may hire experts on the areas like accounting where it cannot have the expertise in the family. But generally a small family business will use the labor force from the family. (Bork 2003, p. 76) Many of the family business that had started off as small business usually grow over the years and acquire an international standard. Most of them however are usually acquired by other people or they enter into partnership with other multinational companies in order to enhance their management. Therefore at some time, in their lifeline a family business may enter into partnership or get acquired by another businesses altogether in order to enhance their growth. Family businesses do not only reflect the source of income for the family but they also represent important values for the family as well. They communicate an important message about the values and believe of the family and they also show the aspirations of the family. Therefore the way in which these businesses are managed is very important as it determines the way in which they are going to serve and continues. Therefore the management of family business is one of the most important factors in running the business. However management of family business is more complex compared to management of other business due to the fact that there are some emotional bonds that area attached to the running of the business. Therefore one of the challenge that family business faces is the way in which decisions are made as far as the involvement of all the family members is concerned. The management becomes more complicated easily when it comes to the issue of making succession in the business from one generation to the other and the way in which these successions are to be hanged and management. Shirley Plantation Shirley Plantation is one of the oldest family run businesses in the USA. Shirly Plantation first plantation was in 1613 and was recorded as one of the economic engine of the new world. This was after 6 years when the founder John Smith had settled in the town of Jamestown. After that the crown granted carving of Shirley Plantation out of virginer farmers. The business was well established between the period where the settlement in Jamestown was happening and the period between the American independences from Britain in 1776. For all that time it was under the leadership of one family and has been able to survive the Indian uprising, Bacons rebellion, the revolutionary war, The Civil Wars and the Great depression all which has been enabled by efficient management of the company and its resources and the way in which it has been adopting to the changing technology in the world. (Shirley Plantation, 2008a) The company is recorded as the oldest family owned business in North America which dates back to 1638. The construction of its present mansions began in 1724 when Elizabeth Hill who as the great grandfathers of the first