Summer Reading

Special Topics

Family Business Director is off enjoying 4th of July festivities this week. For our readers that are looking for some beach reading, we thought we would direct your attention to some of our more popular posts in case you missed them the first time around.

1. Five Takeaways for Family Business Directors from Kress v. U.S.

While we generally think family business directors have more important things to think about than tax-related judicial decisions, family business directors should be familiar with Kress. Spoiler alert: it’s a big win for family business shareholders.

2. What Does Your Family Business Mean to Your Family?

In our experience, families tend to assign one of four basic meanings to their family business. In this post, we unpack what those meanings are and help you assess how the meaning of your family business should influence long-term strategic decisions regarding capital structure, capital allocation, and dividend policy.

3. Five Reasons Your Financial Projections Are Wrong

Some of the most fascinating academic work in economics today is in the area of behavioral finance, which explores the cognitive biases that prevent people from actually being the dispassionate economic robots that so much classical economic theory assumes them to be. In this post, we present a thumbnail sketch of the most common cognitive biases contributing to overly optimistic financial forecasts.

4. Is Your Family Business Ready for the Next Recession?

We don’t begin to know when the next recession might begin. But now is the best time to think about how your family business is positioned for the next recession, whenever it comes. In this post, we review some ways family business directors can prepare their companies to survive (and perhaps even thrive during) the next recession.

5. How Should We Respond to an Acquisition Offer?

Successful family businesses don’t have to go looking for potential acquirers – potential acquirers are likely to come looking for them. In this post, we identify the different dimensions along which family business directors should evaluate unsolicited acquisition offers.

We hope you have a relaxing and enjoyable summer break. If you know a family business director or advisor that might benefit from our content, drop us a line, and we will be sure to add them as a subscriber. Happy reading!