How household corporations can finest plan for succession | EUROtoday

When Rupert Murdoch and his kids lastly reached a deal earlier this 12 months to finish the years-long succession battle over the media mogul’s empire, the high-profile saga supplied a priceless lesson for each family-run firm.

The clear message was that such corporations want a radical plan in place for a way the enterprise is handed over to the following technology, or else they might be mired in emotional and authorized drama.

Here three family-owned and run corporations, from each side of the Atlantic, reveal how they’ve approached the succession challenge.

Biscuit-maker Walker’s Shortbread is certainly one of Scotland’s largest meals exporters, with its tartan-coloured tins and packets an everyday sight at supermarkets and airports world wide.

It was based again in 1898 by Joseph Walker, and as we speak his great-grandson Nicky Walker holds the highest managing director place.

Mr Walker says the enterprise operates what it calls a “cousins consortium” mannequin.

What this implies, he explains, is that each one members of the prolonged Walker household, and particularly their kids, are inspired to hitch the enterprise. And every is allowed to have a say on the place they might ideally place themselves in a managerial position.

“Our succession plan essentially says that if you want to come into the business, there’s a role for you here,” says Mr Walker. “And since the company’s expanding, there’s a whole career to be formed and honed here.”

He provides that when “points of contention” do come up, the intention is all the time to achieve a consensus. “We have always reached decisions based on what is best for the company… with the firm understanding that the business always comes first.

“With the understanding {that a} unity of voice is of paramount significance, a suitable end result has all the time been achieved.”

The company is also not averse to bringing in external experts, such as engaging with professional advisors on the formal, legal accept of succession planning, and the formation of an executive board with directors who are not family members.

Building a succession plan to bridge the gap between the skills in a business today and those needed tomorrow is critical for family businesses, says Charlie Grubb, a senior managing director at global recruitment company Robert Half.

“Emotional and private dynamics is usually a actual problem for household companies in the case of succession planning. There’s a ability in having the ability to take that emotional household tie out of the decision-making course of, and recognise there are household and management roles, and people is perhaps fairly completely different from one another.”

But too often, companies fail to look ahead. More than four in 10 business leaders haven’t identified someone to take over their role when they decide to move on, according to a survey in Canada this year by Robert Half.

Meanwhile, a separate 2025 report found that a lack of succession planning “may result in elevated enterprise closures, job losses, and financial uncertainty”.

Mike Bronner is boss of California-based Dr Bronner’s, well known in the US for its soaps, lotions and toothpaste. His grandfather Emanuel Bronner, who founded the business in 1948, didn’t set up any paperwork for how it should be operated when he had to step away in the 1990s due to declining health.

Emanuel Bronner, who died in 1997, also ran afoul of the Internal Revenue Service, and left the family firm with a $2m (£1.5m) tax bill.

“We discovered from that,” says Mike Bronner. “And ever since we started fascinated about the following technology, and the way to make sure that two generations down the road we’re nonetheless going to perform with the identical values now we have as we speak.”

As for his own succession plan, Mr Bonner says he’s seeing signs his children are interested in running the company. “My son Mike stated he desires to be CEO and I requested him why, and he stated, ‘Well, I really like the mission and the free lunches’.”

What helps with succession planning is involving children early in the business. At St James Town Steak and Chops, a butchers and delicatessen in downtown Toronto, owner Mark Michelin has been training his two children, Noah and Alex, both in their mid-20s, to captain the 54-year-old family-run ship once he retires.

“It’s finest for us to have the enterprise keep within the household,” says Mr Michelin. “And that blood bond is one thing our clients respect, too.

“They often say to me, ‘Oh wow, this is a third-generation family business, and I loved how your dad gave me some deli meats for free when we came in as kids’.”

Back within the Scottish village of Aberlour, Nicky Walker says he firmly believes “that owning and managing a generational family business is an unbelievable privilege. And to have the opportunity to lay the foundations to be succeeded by our own family is fantastic but should never be taken for granted.

“The recommendation I might give, from my very own journey, is that the total assist and the nice deal of steerage and nurturing I used to be supplied was distinctive. And it’s now incumbent upon myself and my technology to, in flip, provide the identical, to the following technology.

“We need to offer them unequivocal support, and that is a message I would pass, with respect, to any family business.”