Parallel Session

Family businesses often struggle with the potentially conflicting needs of present and future generations when setting business strategies. A Green Ocean Strategy prepares a family business to implement complementary actions that simultaneously align business and family governance, social-community cohesion, financial strength and environmental responsibility to achieve intergenerational equity.

This presentation aims to challenge the traditional family business model by the presenters sharing strategies and best practices in transformative design that have successfully led to an alignment between business vison and activities, business governance and structure, and generational continuity through family governance.

You will gain insights into setting and implementing sustainable and ethical business strategies that support long-term value creation through effective decision-making between current and future generations.

FACT – 70% of all wealth transitions from one generation to the next fail.

95% of these wealth transition failures are caused by one or more factors including lack of trust within the family, communication issues within the family, the next generation not being prepared, or a lack of a clear purpose or mission of the family’s wealth.

Family dynamics play a much greater role in successful wealth transfers than previously understood. There is a reason behind the saying…”Shirtsleeves to Shirtsleeves in three generations”.

Key to success is preparing the family members today for their roles tomorrow. Part of that preparation is giving family members responsibilities in relation to the family’s assets, whether or not that involves a role within the business.

Join Brad Scott as he examines the relationship between the family office and family dynamics and shares family business case studies. Brad will also highlights the criteria for success, processes used to ensure success and how to guarantee failure.

When Harry Hammon first transformed a disused coal mine into Australia’s first cable car tourist attraction in 1945, he planted the seed for what would become Scenic World; a thriving tourism attraction in the Blue Mountains.

That seed blossomed under three generations of the Hammon family’s leadership, culminating in the family business winning the right to manage the world renowned BridgeClimb in 2018.

Hammons Holdings has celebrated many great milestones over more than 75 years of operation. Scenic World hit 1.1 million annual visitors in 2019, making it the most visited privately owned tourist attraction in Australia. At the same time, the family business embarked on a visionary plan to evolve BridgeClimb – both businesses which rely heavily on international visitation.

Then the worst bushfire season on record swept across NSW, forcing the closure of Scenic World for five days and making its mark on visitation to BridgeClimb. The impact of the fires was compounded by floods in NSW, before COVID-19 put the world on hold and forced both businesses to close for three months. 200 workers stood down at Scenic World; another 200 at BridgeClimb, and the longer term impacts are yet to unfold.

Join Anthea Hammon and David Hammon for a discussion with Robert Powell as they touch on: how this iconic Australian family business built the resilience to withstand multiple threats to its survival; how the family managed its succession journey across three generations; and how best practice in family governance keeps the family and the business on track in challenging times.

In every business, a crisis can be just a short moment away. An unexpected or out-of-the-ordinary event could turn your world upside down and threaten your brand’s reputation. Some crises have cost companies vast amounts of money in additional costs and lost profits.

But a crisis only spins out of control if you haven’t planned for it. And you won’t have time to start planning when the crisis has already broken.

La Porchetta is a household name in Australia and New Zealand, with a 30 plus year history of franchised restaurants and a loyal customer base. The brand has faced a number of challenges in that time, including the sudden loss of its co-founder in 2010. Sara Pantaleo, former CEO of La Porchetta, will draw on her own experience to talk about: the impact a sudden crisis had on the business; how she managed the business through the crisis; and the importance of having a crisis management plan.

Charles Dickens wrote “it was the best of times; it was the worst of times…” these words could also be used to describe family businesses with human dynamics often tearing many families apart.

Throw into a “normal” nuclear family business dynamic a blended family and statistically the odds go against a peaceful existence.

This panel brings together four women with experience both personally and professionally with divorce, second marriages, divorce again, business splits and the large sale of a successful IT business to a publicly listed company.
The panel will discuss: how to protect your business through a divorce; Estate Planning considerations from practical experience with biological and step children; and the importance of managing perception v reality in regards to the businesses financial success.

Two multi-generational family business leaders recognised the need for their businesses to remain relevant and competitive, embarking on initiatives to survive into the next generation. Upon taking the helm of the national agriculture packaging business, Colquhouns, Robert Colquhoun’s success was driven by the legacy of the preceding four generations. And to create new value for second generation business, Forty Winks, non-executive director Cameron van den Dungen launched start-up business, Sleeptite. Hear each leaders approach to transforming their business; their unique challenges, opportunities and lessons learnt.