by Christos A. Christou (Author)

Corporate Governance regulates not only interactions between shareholders, management and oversight bodies such as boards of directors, but also ensures appropriate checks and balances exist that can preserve and enhance the viability of any business, including any family-owned business. Family Governance regulates the interactions between a family-owned business and the family owning the business, as well as between the members of the owning family. When both are present and functioning well, the prospects of longevity for the family business and the preservation of the ownership of the business in the family are both enhanced.

When one or both disciplines are absent or not functioning well, these prospects are undermined. So, Corporate and Family Governance are not sufficient but they are necessary conditions for the continued viability of a family-owned business and the continued family ownership of the business across multiple generations.