EVOLVE Business and Professional Magazine February 2018 | Page 18

A
ccording to the Volusia County Economic Development
office, there are nearly 14,000 businesses in Volusia
County. Yet, the reality in the small business world is that
family businesses have strengths they need to exploit while others
have weaknesses they need to reduce.
“For family-owned businesses, leadership excellence is linked to
not all will survive. In fact, it’s estimated by the Small Business the legitimacy and longevity of the leader,” he adds. “As companies
close each year nationwide. The difference between what helps a inevitably multiply and it becomes necessary to build an
Administration that roughly 400K businesses are opened and 400K
business to thrive and what causes it to dive, doesn’t come down
to just one thing. There are multiple ingredients in the recipe
for business longevity. This is especially true when it comes to
businesses that are handed down from one generation to the next.
LASTING GENERATIONS
There’s something special about a business that stands the test
of time. When a business lasts long enough to be handed down to
the next generation it not only means it is being run well, but also
means that is has beat the odds.
According to the Family Enterprise Center at Stetson University,
a program that guides family enterprises through transition and
growth, between 70-80% of all businesses worldwide are family
owned. Yet only 30% of them make it to the second generation
and the families that own them grow, the actors and interests
efficient governance that allows for the separation of issues and
the unification of the voices of the family, stakeholders,
a