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Managing for the Long Run: Lessons in Competitive Advantage from Great Family Businesses by Robert Morris

Managing for the Long Run: Lessons in Competitive Advantage from Great Family Businesses
Danny Miller and Isabelle Le Breton-Miller
Harvard Business School Press

For owners and other decision-makers now involved with family businesses, Miller and Le Breton-Miller explain HOW to achieve and then sustain a competitive advantage. True, various ³lessons² were revealed by the authors¹ rigorous and extensive research on a number of family-controlled businesses (FCB) which have become major corporations, notably Cargill, Hallmark Cards, L.L. Bean, Motorola, and Wal-Mart. It is important to remember, however, that all of them had modest origins and during that perilous period encountered most (if not all) of the same challenges which FCB start-ups now face. Most of the most valuable business books were written to answer critically important questions. In this instance: What distinguishes great family businesses? (Please see Chapter 1.) A related question: What are the ³potent priorities² of great family-controlled businesses? (Please see Chapter 2.) Another related question: Why do so many family-controlled businesses stumble? (Please see Chapter 8.) In between Chapters 2 and 8, Miller and Le Breton-Miller focus on five primary characteristics: brand building, craftsmanship, operations, innovation, and deal making. They devote a separate chapter to each. I prefer not to list their key points which are best revealed within the narrative¹s frame-of-reference and sequential context. Various Tables and Grids conveniently and efficiently illustrate the cohesion, indeed interdependence of what the authors characterize as ³The Four Cs²: Command, Continuity, Community, and Connections. All of the specific mental and business models, strategies, tactics, values, and applications which Miller and Le Breton-Miller recommend are based on their conviction that ³the only way to sustain good performance is to act in the best interests of the company and all its stakeholders. First, boards and top managers must be motivated to be courageous and farsighted stewards. Second, they need to concentrate on and invest deeply in a substantive, enduring mission. Third, they must assemble a unified, value-driven staff that uses its initiative for the interests of the whole firm. Finally, they must form enduring, win-win relationships with external partners.²