Family business: It costs more to maintain than to create.

BarcelonaThe challenge isn't so much creating a company as making it last. The data reflects this. Around 100,000 companies are established in Catalonia each year (this figure includes everything from corporations to sole proprietorships and others), but only three are over 300 years old (Codorniu, which is no longer owned by the Raventós family; Raventós itself, which has other businesses in the sector; and the Publications of Montserrat Abbey). This data was presented by Oriol Amat, professor at Pompeu Fabra University-Barcelona School of Management (UPF-BSM) and director of the Family Business Observatory. Together with a colleague, Jordi Tarragona, Amat analyzed family-controlled companies and concluded that only 17% have a high level of professionalization. The experts based their findings on responses from 129 companies out of a sample of 1,200. And this refers to professionalization, understood as the opposite of improvisation, lack of systematization, or acting solely on intuition, which is key to business survival, according to these researchers. The fact that survival is a challenge is demonstrated by the fact that only 30% of companies reach the second generation and only 13% the third.

The study, conducted by UPF-BSM with the support of the family business association in the sector of retail Comertia and the consulting firm The Skeye reveal that around 40% of these companies have an intermediate structural model of professionalization. Some of their characteristics include the separation between the presidency and management, auditing of accounts, and a formal board of directors.

The "blunder" of the star super-executive

One way to further professionalize a business is to hire external executives. But with caution. Francesc Julià, CEO of the furniture company Kave Home, founded by his father, explained during the presentation of the study that one of his "biggest blunders" was hiring "an external superstar executive." This is because anyone joining the company, in addition to having skills and a strong resume, must be a good fit. Despite pushing for necessary changes, "you have to adapt to the company, not the other way around," he summarized.

Tarragona, who belongs to the family that originally founded Muebles Tarragona, explained that thanks to an indicator they created to establish the degree of professionalization, four categories of family businesses have emerged: informal businesses, those in the process of professionalization, those at an intermediate level, and highly professionalized businesses. Also present at the colloquium was Ignasi Pietx, CEO of Artyplan and president of Comertia, who stated that his company, founded by his former father-in-law, is undergoing a process of professionalization, as are 33% of the companies that participated in the study. In addition to the 17% that are at the top of the professionalization process, particularly in the industrial sector, 10 out of every 100 still operate within an informal model where the family dining room and the boardroom are indistinguishable. In any case, Tarragona cautioned that professionalization, which depends on the owners' willingness, "is not an end in itself but a means to ensure the company's continuity." Núria Segura, from the consulting firm The Skyeye, stated that changes are often resisted because "there is a fear of losing control and identity."

During the question and answer session, Javier Cottet, president of Cottet Opticians, stated that one element to consider when professionalizing the company is allowing family members who wish to leave to do so. Not everyone will necessarily want to continue. And Tarragona is direct: "The right to leave must be fair to those leaving and viable for the company." Quite a challenge.