Thomas Schmidheiny Chair of Family Business and Wealth Management

Research

Despite the fact that family businesses contribute significantly to the Indian economy, the sector is largely an unexplored area of research. The Thomas Schmidheiny Chair of Family Business and Wealth Management at the ISB has outlined key research themes for creating and enhancing knowledge specific to family businesses.

Indian Family Business: Structure, Status and Contribution - This research area focusses on identifying and documenting the exact quantum of contribution of family businesses to the Indian economy. The project also involves a study of the various factors that influence strategies and decisions of Indian family business groups.
Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation - One of the reasons for failure of family businesses over generations is the lack of entrepreneurship within the family. However, Indian family businesses tend to beat this trend. This research focusses on understanding this trend through a study of new venture creation strategies of Indian family businesses.
Professionalisation of Family Business - This is an area of concern and importance both for family businesses and entrepreneurs. In the first study completed on this theme, the co-existence of family and non-family executives has been related with a pair of doubles players in a game of tennis. The research has advanced considerably and theoretical exploration into professionalisation of businesses is in progress.
Professionalisation on Family Business in India (2007) - An extensive report on 60 family businesses, prepared for Amrop International. Please click here for an executive summary of that piece of research.