Manufacturing & Distribution

Family Business

Director, MBA, PMP

Mobility & Transportation

Family Business Strategic Assessment

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Strategy & Management Consulting

Center for the Return of Manufacturing

Manufacturing and distribution coronavirus resources

Mobility and transportation company coronavirus resources

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Supply Chain Strategy, Planning & Optimization

International Growth Services

Managing Partner, CPA

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Principal, MBA

Ownership Transition & Exit Strategies

I recently sat down with my long-time friend and strategy “Sensei”, Dr. Mark Frigo, Distinguished Professor Emeritus at DePaul University’s Kellstadt Graduate School of Business. Dr. Frigo founded the Center for Strategy, Execution and Valuation at DePaul. I am proud to say that I have been collaborating as a clinical professor in the Center with Mark for many years. The objective of our meeting was to discuss the application of Dr. Frigo’s Return Driven Strategy (RDS) framework to the family-owned enterprise. The framework is the culmination of over ten years of intensive research aimed at identifying and categorizing the root causes of success for the best performing companies in the U.S. and throughout the world based on decades of performance history. His results were published in the book DRIVEN – Business Strategy, Human Actions and the Creation of Wealth, co-authored with Joel Litman. 

In this article, Gary A. Plaster, the “Family Business Strategist”  discusses Dr. Mark L. Frigo's Return Driven Strategy for family-owned  businesses

Strategic Growth Planning & Execution

Return Driven Strategy for family-owned businesses

Co-authored with Erich Bergen It is a fact that all family businesses will eventually go through a transition — whether that be leadership succession or ownership transfer. The Baker Tilly Family Business Strategy Group believes transitions should emphasize family business continuity and maximize wealth to transact or pass down for future generations. In this whitepaper, Gary Plaster and Erich Bergen tap into their extensive experience guiding family-owned businesses to detail seven keys to success that are critical for each transition journey. Download the whitepaper. Still have questions? We can assist you with transition, estate and tax planning, M&A, leadership succession, wealth management and strategic planning. We help you prepare your business to sell or increase the value of your business to pass on for generations to come. We’re here to help. Connect with us.

In this whitepaper, Gary Plaster and Erich Bergen identify seven keys to success family-owned businesses should use when facing a transition.

Agribusiness

Automotive & Mobility

Cooperatives

Distribution

Food & Beverage

Craft Beverage

Seven keys to success for family business continuity and transition

Baker Tilly provides insights on family business ownership and how the ownership group interacts with board members in order to achieve success. Family-owned businesses without clearly defined roles and responsibilities for the ownership group, board and management can create confusion among each group and, in turn, cause the company to suffer from lack of vision or clear direction. Through knowing how each of these groups interact with each other and how their roles and responsibilities differ and overlap, the board and management can help the ownership group achieve their objectives and set the company up for continued success. By utilizing this white paper, family ownership groups can learn how to effectively define each role and responsibility to set their company up for success for generations to come. Download the whitepaper.  For more information on this topic, or to learn how Baker Tilly specialists can help, contact our team.

Baker Tilly provides insights on family business ownership and how the ownership group interacts with board members in order to achieve success.

Family ownership versus boards of directors: Roles and responsibilities

Family businesses are experiencing a generational shift like one we’ve never seen before, with approximately 40% of baby boomer business owners expecting to retire by 2022. Moreover, when 55% of business sales are due to unexpected events, like death, divorce or disagreement between family members, it’s clearly more important than ever to know how your family business creates value, how to drive future growth and to have a plan in place for the unexpected. 
Unfortunately, many family business owners are surprised and disappointed to learn the actual market value of the businesses they built. Family business strategy group leader Gary Plaster and his colleague Erich Bergen discuss how potential buyers value businesses as well as the risk reduction and growth value drivers that family businesses can leverage to grow their company’s value. Download the article >  For more information on this, or to learn how Baker Tilly specialists can help, contact our team.

Major demographic shifts, such as the baby boomer generation retiring, will lead to trillions of dollars changing hands as family businesses sell or transition ownership in the next few years. Baker Tilly's family business strategy group helps clients develop strategic growth plans to maximize the value of family-owned businesses for the future.

Thinking about selling? How to grow the value of a family-owned business

Multiple generations within a family business can work well together;  however there are times when a family member isn’t the best fit for the  role…. Many family businesses face the reality of a child working in  the business who performs poorly and they may want to fire. The  situation might arise because the business did not have the proper  guidelines in place regarding hiring and performance evaluation of  family members. In other cases, the child may have no interest in  running the business. The consequences of firing a family member often  reach beyond the business and continue to be part of the family dynamic  forever. This on-demand webinar will offer strategies for  preserving the family legacy and relationship. Participants will hear a firsthand account of how one family business faced multi-generational  family issues and navigated through to success. Join     Gary Plaster, Family Business Strategist Leader from Baker Tilly;    Greg Monday, Corporate Law and Trusts and Estates practice, Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren;    Pete Vogel,  CEO and fourth-generation owner of Vogel Bros. Building Co.; along with  moderator     Barbara Spector, Editor-in-Chief and Associate Publisher,  Family Business Magazine, as they share practical ways to avoid and/or  resolve the complexities of working with your children.
For more information on this topic, or to learn how Baker Tilly specialists can help,      contact our team. 

Talent recruitment, retention and management

Should you fire your child from the family business?

At Baker Tilly, we’ve developed a unique approach to getting to the heart of who you are as a family business and family business owner or leader. 

Our family business strategic assessment is a diagnostic tool measuring the readiness of your family-owned business for transition, as well as its capacity to strategically build value. By taking a look at the following family business dimensions, we’re able to build a roadmap to help achieve your individual, family and business goals:

Family communication and conflict management

The strategic roadmap, based on your results and your objectives, capabilities and readiness, could include any combination of the following focus areas: family enterprise strategy, portfolio business strategy and individual plans.

Once the plan is finalized, we work with you as an integrated, seamless service team to support you in executing the plans and achieving your family and business objectives.

This quick diagnostic tool is the first step to understanding the complexities of preparing your company for transition.

Gary Plaster, principal with Baker Tilly, leads the family business strategy group. Gary is a nationally recognized thought leader in growth strategy with more than three decades of experience advising family business owners and C-suite executives. He previously served as managing partner of strategy consulting and chief strategy officer for another national accounting firm.

Christine is the Managing Partner, Wisconsin, as well as the manufacturing and distribution team leader in the Wisconsin market. 

Erich Bergen, director in our supply chain and manufacturing consulting practice, has been with Baker Tilly since 2017.

Baker Tilly’s family business strategic assessment is a diagnostic tool designed to help us get to know you and your family-owned business, as well as your goals for your family, your business and yourself.

Baker Tilly’s family business strategy assessment gets to the heart of who you are as a family business by measuring key areas to help you meet your goals.

Family Business Strategic Assessment

Return Driven Strategy for family-owned businesses

Seven keys to success for family business continuity and transition

Family ownership versus boards of directors: Roles and responsibilities

Thinking about selling? How to grow the value of a family-owned business

Should you fire your child from the family business?

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Strategic roadmap focus areas

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