Enabling Communication Through Governance Structures

Listen to Yuelin Yang discuss the governance structures that will enable the business to move from the founder to the next generation.

I think particularly in the younger family businesses in Asia, usually the younger – the founder and the next generation often can be very strong entrepreneurs but maybe not the best in terms of engaging in a broader stakeholder group. It’s a classic case of a very strong founder who kind of makes decisions and keeps a lot of information to himself, and so for a business to evolve from the founder generation is to have the proper governance structures which includes informing the relevant stakeholders. The founder needs to realize to keep the business going to put in the proper governance structures is not just having discussions at the dinner table or keeping information to him or herself. So for example it’s having proper board meetings with information being disclosed to the relevant people ahead of the board meeting and having a good discussion at the board meeting.