MANAGING a family business is not definitely a walk in the park. One of the issues in family-owned enterprises is the succession from the founder to the next generation of successors who will run the enterprise. Being a family business coach for several decades, Prof. Enrique Soriano III said every business from the small to medium to the enterprise level must have a solid succession and governance to ensure longevity.
“The bottom line is that governance and succession must start during the opening of a business,” Soriano said in a recent interview with the BusinessMirror held in Makati City.
It took Soriano three to four years to “ensuring the family business legacy.” Back then, Soriano felt there was a need for a book to address the succession issue specifically in the family business. He developed it as a guide for them to use in running their business.
“It is a combination of compass and a road map plus inspiring entrepreneurs through the few pages on how billionaire businessman and philanthropist Dr. Andrew Tan started to build his business empire starting from scratch up to the establishment of Megaworld in 1989,” said Soriano, a senior advisor of the Wong + Bernstein Advisory Group, a Strategic Consulting Group servicing Asean organizations related to strategic leadership, growth in Asian family businesses, organizational change and competitive strategies. In the book, Soriano commended Tan for his business savvy in building the family’s business empire. Furthermore, he praised Tan for his vision on how to build and expand the business. Aside from property development, the University of the East alumnus also controls Emperador Distillers Inc. and a substantial stake in McDonald’s fast food chain. Tan asked him to mentor son Kevin when he worked as a retail associate. He even instructed Soriano to treat his son as one of the employees asked him to give Kevin tasks for his work. “I got you because you are a professor. You need to mentor him,” Soriano recalled.