About

About TSCFE

The Thomas Schmidheiny Centre for Family Enterprise (ThS_CFE) at ISB, generously funded with support from Thomas Schmidheiny, Founder and Chairman of Spectrum Value Management, Ltd, Switzerland, was launched on February 7, 2015. The Centre combines knowledge, practice and innovation in the field of family business to foster the prosperity and perpetuation of family businesses across generations. The Centre engages closely with leading family businesses in India and Asia, through collaborations, conferences, workshops and forums. These engagements have helped the Centre contribute significantly to the growing body of research on various aspects of family business and emerge as the face of family business scholarship in India.

Family Enterprise Quarterly
Volume 4. Issue 1

January - March, 2025
 

 

The Centre's Journey

Chronicling Indian Family Enterprises
 


 

#13

Journal Publications

#32

Cases

#07

White Papers

#22

Books&Book Chapters

#16

Working Papers

Research - Generating Knowledge that Creates Impact

The Thomas Schmidheiny Centre for Family Enterprise at the ISB conducts and promotes cutting-edge research in the growing field of family business. Despite their significant contribution to the Indian economy, family businesses remain a largely unexplored area of research.

People

Founded by Professor Kavil Ramachandran in 2015 and presently led by Professor Sougata Ray, the Thomas Schmidheiny Centre for Family Enterprise is supported by a dedicated and experienced team of research and managerial staff who contribute to the research projects, teaching, mentoring and various outreach initiatives. The Centre is also affiliated with faculty and research fellows that contribute to the teaching and research activities at the Centre respectively.

Practice and Outreach

The Centre undertakes several outreach initiatives that aim at enabling family businesses in India/Asia and other parts of the world to provide thought leadership and develop best practices for sharing among all stakeholders.

Education - A Platform for Learning and Enrichment

Transformation of family businesses require focused training inputs. To prepare and train family members associated with their businesses, operationally or otherwise to take up higher levels of responsibilities, the Centre offers an array of training programmes on different aspects of family business. The Centre faculty teach on Post Graduate Programme in Management, Post Graduate Programme in Management for Family Business and Advance Management Programme for Infrastructure. Centre is also supporting ISB in the initiative to run a unique masters level programme MFAB for young family members who wish to enter the family business in the future.  

Knowledge Dissemination and Networking

The Centre disseminates knowledge in the field of family business management through articles in business and popular media vehicles across the world. Several of the articles authored by members of our team have been published in leading publications. The Centre also regularly provides expert comments in media stories and articles on family business. Annually, the Centre also contributes to knowledge dissemination through practice-oriented family business research article summaries in FFI Practitioner – an online newsletter published by the Family Firm Institute, Boston, USA.

The Centre has expanded its impact through establishing a network of academic, industry and institutional linkages in India and abroad through several personal and institutional networks. In academics and research the Centre has built a strong network with faculty members from the Kellogg School of Management, University of Victoria, Ipag Business School, and University of Vermont. The Centre is an institutional member of the Successful Transgenerational Entrepreneurship Practices (STEP) – a global applied research initiative of top B-Schools across the world. The Centre also has strong institutional connect with industry bodies such as CII and FICCI.

News

altText

Thomas Schmidheiny Centre for Family Enterprise

9th Asian Invitational Conference on Family Business

Industry leaders and subject experts converge at the 9th Asian Invitational Conference on Family Business to discuss and deliberate on the challenges and opportunities in family business.

Feb 05, 2025

altText

Thomas Schmidheiny Centre for Family Enterprise

Kumar Mangalam Gets Ready to Fight for Birla’s Future

Professor Sougata Ray, Thomas Schmidheiny Chair and Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship (Practice) at ISB, is quoted in an article in Outlook Business on Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairperson of Aditya Birla Group. The article titled ‘Kumar Mangalam Gets Ready to Fight for Birla’s Future’ sheds light on how the conglomerate is planning to expand his business and respond to competition. “Being a conglomerate with a multi-decadal legacy, the Birlas will respond to competition within each business segment as per the industry dynamics. It is quite natural that it will be forced to be more proactive and innovative in a particular business segment when it faces competition from other well-capitalised business groups,” opines Professor Sougata Ray.

Jan 01, 2025

altText

Thomas Schmidheiny Centre for Family Enterprise

The FamCap25 – The Top Family Enterprise Academics by the Family Capital Magazine

Kavil Ramachandran, Professor of Entrepreneurship (Practice) and Senior Advisor, Thomas Schmidheiny Centre for Family Enterprise at ISB has been featured in Family Capital's FamCap25 – The Top Family Enterprise Academics.

Dec 10, 2024

Events

  • Watch this space to stay updated about the latest events

    Click below to view the latest events