About the book

The subject of Baassiri’s book is to provide information with respect to retaining a business through many generations. According to a compilation of statistical facts, this indeed is a daunting task. The author’s research discovered that “…even though family firms make up two-thirds of the businesses around the world, they struggle to survive beyond generation one” and that “only about 30 per cent of family firms make this transition successfully, while only 10-15 percent make it to generation three and only 3-4 percent make it to generation four. What’s more, it is estimated that 70 percent of a family’s inheritance is lost by the second generation and 90 percent is gone by the third generation.” The author, desirous of extending his own family business researched further and discovered that “those families that do survive are the ones willing to keep an eye on new horizons. Just because a business model or product has worked in the past doesn’t mean it will continue to do so, and while innovative diversification and delving into something altogether new could be disruptive (IE), it is an opportunity to negotiate a new path.” He then provides numerous examples of families who did just this followed with seven more chapters expanding upon how his family accepted a powerful key interruption and the adjustments they had made and how expansion of earlier preparations aided. These he followed with an eighth extolling the need for forward, positive thinking.

Discussion/Conclusion: The author has provided a template upon which to extend a family business for countless generations. Among many suggestions offered are: “Live what you love and love what you do” and to “hone your skills toward what you love to excel in”. Also included are the necessity to believe in yourself, openly communicate, be trustworthy and able to trust other family members, establish a sound basic constitution (actually similar to that of the U.S.) for running the business, avoid confrontations among the ‘board’ with respect to hiring, firing and other minutia, and above all, the CEO must be resilient, self-controlled and forward-looking with respect to entrepreneurial interruptions. The book, as so often seems to happen, offers description and suggestions somewhat repetitively throughout the chapters. However, the material provided is well documented and even scholarly in its presentation with a quite impressive list of 210 references. Thus, it is a must read for any individual running a family business or anyone anticipating such action. Also immensely interesting material as collateral knowledge for the intellectually curious.

Raméz A. Baassiri’s fine book on Interrupted Entrepreneurship (IE) in family companies is full of EI (emotional intelligence) and wisdom on the management of family firms. Structured around his insightful observations on how to appreciate and address the interruptions in our life paths, Baassiri uses his family’s story, and those of many famous families in business, to guide family companies to lasting success.

In his book Interrupted Entrepreneurship, Raméz A. Baassiri manages to weave his own hard-won expertise and knowledge with that of leading scholars and their case studies into a unique, highly accessible, and deeply insightful narrative helping family businesses in all industries and geographies navigate the tumultuous waters of disruptive change.