April 19th 2013

Proposal

SESO GROUP:
Suhaila Asbah Steven Drakou Alex Golovin Elin Bjornback

Table of Contents
METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................................................ 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................ 2 REASONING BEHIND AND PURPOSE .......................................................................................................... 3 OBJECTIVES ........................................................................................................................................................ 4 PARTNERS........................................................................................................................................................... 5 MANAGEMENT (COMMITTEE) ..................................................................................................................... 7 MEMBERSHIP..................................................................................................................................................... 7 STRUCTURE ........................................................................................................................................................ 8 ACTIVITIES ......................................................................................................................................................... 9 FUNDING OF THE CLUB ............................................................................................................................... 10 MEMBER OF THE SEMESTER AWARD .................................................................................................... 12 BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................................................................................. 13 APPENDICES .................................................................................................................................................... 15 APPENDIX 1: SURVEY QUESTIONS ............................................................................................................................... 15

Methodology
For this proposal, both primary and secondary sources were used. Non-probability sampling was used as the research focused solely on stakeholders of family business, in particular Regent college students. Qualitative approach involved surveys composed of 10 questions (see Appendix 1). with the purpose of finding out if an interest of creating a family business club existed and what content was required. In addition, to create a positioning for the club, a competitive analysis was made. The survey and competitive analysis were combined with sources from the Internet.

Introduction
Regents University London has over 4000 students of 100 different nationalities (Regents University London, 2013), with many of them being part of successful family businesses. Currently, there exist several societies on campus, for example law society, racing society and cultural society but yet no club, association or society has been founded that focus primarily on family businesses. Therefore, this report aims to propose the creation of a Regents Family Business Club, by explaining its purpose and content. The most important inputs from the survey is presented throughout the report.

Reasoning Behind and Purpose

According to the PWC family business survey (2012) it shows that family firms are robust, vigorous and successful they are ambitious, entrepreneurial and delivering solid profits even in the continued uncertain economic environment. Family businesses are making a substantial but undervalued contribution to stability and growth and it is believed that governments could do more to offer the sort of targeted support that would make a significant difference for them. For instance there is special body in Australia, which helps family business (which is valued 4,3 trillion dollars) in the region and raises attention to it from government and public (ONeil, 2013). It is here the Regents Family Business Club aims to come in and support those businesses through preparing the next leading generations. Amongst the 20 students participating in the survey, that were either part of a family business or interested in learning more about family businesses, 15 said that they would be interested in being part of a family business club. The reasons for joining were mainly to create valuable connections (networking), spot job opportunities and to share knowledge and experiences (learn more about other family businesses) while some of the participants would seek to both give and receive support (how to deal with issues such as succession, family feuds etc.). The reasons why five students would not want to take part of a club were because they did not believe that they would have enough time to be fully engaged in the activities held, had low overall interest in being part of a club or that they was not planning to work in their family businesses.

Reasons for joining the club

Number of students 20 15 10 5 0 Networking Give / Receive Support Sharing of knowledge Spot job opportunities / experiences Reason

Therefore, Regents Family Business Club will aim to connect students that come from or are interested in family businesses in various industries, from retail and finance to shipping and hospitality, in order to build a rich network. The members will gain experience and create valuable global connections while the club will provide the students will balanced practical and academic knowledge for them to use in their present or future family business life.

Objectives
The main objectives of Regents Family Business Club will be to: Unite students interested in or part of family businesses to share knowledge, experiences and ideas. Create a platform for students within family businesses to give and receive support. Spot job opportunities through connecting different family businesses with international scope. Build valuable networks between students, family businesses and other universities.

 Strengthen the Regents College brand in the international family business society. Establish strong relationships with domestic and foreign university based family business clubs as part of the expansion of Regents University London.

Partners
One of the objectives of Regents Family Business Club will be to build strong relationships with other university based clubs like Wharton family business club from the US, ICG from Egypt and GSB from Stanford, with the purpose of creating an association such as the International Family Business Network on a student level, which is not shown to exist in the present. Therefore, instead of doing a competitive analysis, here will follow a presentation of suggested partners and how they could help to expand both the Regents Family Business Club and Regents University London brand globally. The existing family business club at neighboring London Business School has, according to the website (London Business School, 2013), over 400 members. This gives them a great advantage, for already having an established themselves on the international arena, a network that Regents Family Business Club could explore. Their unique selling points are mainly that the club is part of one of the worlds leading business schools (Financial Times a, 2013) and that it aims to build knowledge, expand networks and growing the LBS brand in the global family business community (London Business School, 2013). Wharton Family Business Club is well established on the American market. The unique selling point of Wharton is, in addition of having a large network of family businesses and participating in global conferences, that the club aims to establish family business as a field of study in Wharton University, which could improve the knowledge and be an inspiration for Regents Family Business Club to try and achieve at the 5

university. They also run Global Family Alliance events (Wharton Graduate Association, 2013). The family business club at Columbia Business School in New York was started in 2010 with the aim of creating a worldwide network to ease business transactions. One unique selling point is that the school is based in central New York, located just blocks from the established New York Family Business Center, which with their base of specialist advisors (NY FBC, 2013) could create great opportunities for finding interesting guest speakers and create other shared events. The club has also created a Family Business Management Program composed of current students, alumni and external family businesses in New York with the purpose of increasing awareness of family business challenges and issues (Columbia Business School, 2013). A fourth, non-university partner is suggested to be the UK based advisory firm Albert Goodman. The firm launched their family business club in 2011, which has become a huge success (Albert Goodman, 2013). Regents Family Business Club should become part of this club to take advantage of their specialist guidance and assistance relating to both how to run the business and more financial issues. Joining the Albert Goodman club would provide the members of Regents Family Business Club with a large, valuable network that also their families can take advantage of.

Management (Committee)

Regents Family Business Club will be managed of a committee that is in charged of structuring the meetings, accepting memberships, scheduling events and ensuring that all members are content with the club. The committee will be elected annually as some students could are graduated. There will not be a President; instead three people will take the roles as coordinators, to avoid hierarchy power structure. At the beginning, these people will be the founders of the Club and whilst the membership expands (hopefully) and the founders graduate, members can request interest of being part of the committee, a decision that is taken from the current coordinators in terms of capability, interest, ideas etc.

Membership
The membership of Regents Family Business Club will be limited to students of Regents University London. The initial idea was to limit the club to business students but since family businesses can be of any shape or form, it has been decided that students from all

of the seven schools incorporated under the brand are welcome to join, whether it be a finance or fashion and design student. It is not required that members are part of a family business but in order to create a meaningful purpose of the club, the members do need to have an interest of learning more about the dynamics of family run businesses. If not already part of one, maybe they seek to gain knowledge and experience to one day start their own? It was previously said that when graduating, members would automatically become alumni of the club and get the chance to be involved by, for example participating in events or be a guest speaker. To be part of alumni is something that the students would consider. Taking this into account, to not require people to be alumni of separate clubs, a good idea would be to connect the Regents Family Business Club alumni with the main one of the whole college, to extend the network even further. As explained under the section Funding of the Club further below, the suggested initial membership fee of 100 have been changed to a free membership with charged events of fees around 10.

Structure
The initial idea was to have a monthly meeting with all members where they would take part in debates on pre chosen topics, tackle cases of the diverse challenges of family businesses and to share each other experiences. When conducting the survey it was concluded that most of the students asked, 75%, would be willing to participate in monthly meetings and attend one or two events during the semester. Therefore, it has been determined that Regents Family Business Club will begin with having: Monthly meetings Holding one or two events during the semester

Activities
When answering the question regarding the content of the club, which activities they would want the club to organize, the majority of the participants said that they would like to attend sessions with different guest speakers. While most suggested that the guest speakers would be entrepreneurs that came and shared their experiences of creating and running a family business some also came with the good idea of inviting consultants. These consultants could give presentations of how to improve your family business, to talk more about the strategy of running a family business from an outside perspective and to provide guidelines of how to deal with issues relating to, for example, succession, family-business-ownership dynamics and to go public or stay private. Networking events was also requested where the members could not only meet other family business clubs in the UK but also invite their families to create more valuable connections between the students on a more business level. One student also came with the suggestion of not only creating own networking events but to join business related networking gatherings as a group, to strengthen contacts with not only other student related business clubs but also on a more professional level. The reason for wanting these networking events was shown to be more easily find job opportunities. Other suggestions of activities included workshops with different themes, wine and dine events and social gatherings with other family business clubs or business clubs.

Activities wanted
16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Networking events Guest Speakers Wine & Dine events Workshops Gatherings with other family business / business clubs Number of students

Kind of activity

Based on the survey results combined with the reasons why the students would want to join the club, Regents Family Business Club will hold the following activities: Networking events with other family business / business clubs. Guest speaker evenings. Example of guest speakers could be parents to members, entrepreneurs and consultants. Workshops with different themes, for example how to best support one and other. Wine and Dine events to create positive dynamics in the group even outside campus.

Funding of the Club

The initial suggestion was to have a joining membership fee of 100 to cover materials such as notepads, pens etc. for meetings. In addition, it was suggested that the members would pay for other activities that take place in public places such as for booking fees for wine and dine events. Considering the results of the survey, the participant would be ready to pay a small membership fee around 20 - 25 per semester. However, they would only be willing to pay a fee if the club could guarantee events per semester, such as networking events, workshops and inviting guest speakers. Therefore, it is suggested that instead of having a membership fee that Regents Family Business Club would be free to join and that members instead are charged for the different events held. The purpose of this decision is to first create a solid membership base and second to not to give false promises, if the committee would not be able to hold a certain number of events per semester. However, a membership fee might be reconsidered in the longer term. The fee for the events would vary but be at a low level in order to not exclude any, around 10, depending on what resources are required, for example purchasing food and drinks for workshop events.

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Fee willing to pay / semester

Number of Students 8 6 4 2 0 10 15 20 25 Fee / Semester 30 40 50

Professional services firms such as PWC and Ernest & Young, law firms and banks seems to be very interested in getting in touch with family firms, as they can be seen as being sponsors to family business networks all over the world (FBN International, 2013; FBN Sweden, 2013). To ask them to be sponsor to the Regents Family Business Club would be a good idea since the Club could provide them with not only a large base of business students (for their graduate programs etc.) but also valuable connections to both small and large family businesses that could become profitable clients in the future. Also, Ernest & Young has a Junior Academy, which is especially created for successors of family businesses (Ernest & Young, 2013), which could be of great value for the members of the club to gain support and more extensive knowledge. In the case of finding sponsors would be difficult, to ask Regents College to be part of funding the club would be an option. To conclude, the Regents Family Business Club be funded by: Fees for events held, between 10 - 20 per event/workshops/guest speaker Sponsors in form of family businesses of the members and professional services firms, law firms or banks. (Regents College)

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Member of the Semester Award

To encourage the students to participate in meetings and other activities held throughout the semester, the committee of Regents Family Business Club will each semester elect one member to be the winner of the Member of the Semester Award. The award is based on the level of performance and overall contribution to the club in terms of generating ideas, participating in events held and supporting fellow members. In addition of being an honor to receive the Award, as an extra incentive there will be a prize. However, what the prize will be is to be determined by the committee and might vary from semester to semester.

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Bibliography
Albert Goodman. (2013). Albert Goodman Family Business Club. Available URL: http://www.albertgoodman.co.uk/index.php/articles-events/agnews/178-albert-goodman-family-business-club-launch-is-great-success-7-july2011?ft=1 Accessed: 17 April 2013 Columbia Business School. (2013). The Columbia Family Business Management Program. Available URL: http://www8.gsb.columbia.edu/entrepreneurship/affiliates/getinvolved/family Accessed: 17 April 2013 Ernest & Young. (2013). Ernest & Young Junior Academy Program 2013. Available URL: http://www.ey-junioracademy.com Accessed: 16 April 2013 FBN International. (2013). Alliances and Preferred Sponsors. Available URL: http://www.fbn-i.org/fbn/web.nsf/doclu/sponsors Accessed: 16 April 2013 FBN Sweden. (2013). Vra Vnner. Available URL: http://www.fbn-sweden.se Accessed: 16 April 2013 Financial Times a. (2013). Global MBA Ranking 2013. Available URL: http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/london-business-school Accessed: 16 April 2013 Financial Times b. (2010). The family business club at Columbia. Available URL: http://blogs.ft.com/mba-blog/2010/07/06/the-family-business-club-atcolumbia/ Accessed: 17 April 2013 London Business School. (2013). Family Business Club. Available URL: http://clubs.london.edu/family/about/ Accessed: 16 April 2013 NY FBC. (2013). About us. Available URL: http://www.nyfbc.com/about-us/ Accessed: 17 April 2013 ONeil, 2013. Why Family Business Has Government Attention. Retrieved on 19th of April, 2013, from: http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2013/4/18/familybusiness/why-family-business-has-governments-attention PWC. (2012). Family Business Survey 2012. Available URL: http://www.pwc.com/gx/en/pwc-family-business-survey/index.jhtml Accessed: 15 April 2013 13

Regents London University. (2013). About Regents University London. Available URL: http://www.regents.ac.uk/home/about_regents_university.aspx Accessed: 15 April 2013 Wharton Graduate Association (2013). Family Business Club. Available URL: http://www.wgaworld.org/clubssubpage.html?catid=12&_category=professional-clubs&id=128 Accessed: 17 April 2013

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Appendices

Appendix 1: Survey Questions

1. Would you be interested in joining a family business club on campus? 2. If yes, what would be your reasons for joining this club? 3. What purpose do you see this club to have? 4. How much time would you be willing/able to spend in this club (in terms of number of meetings, events, workshops)? 5. What would be the reason for you to be willing to pay a membership fee? 6. If a membership fee were required, what would be the maximum limit you would accept? Would you want the fee to be annual or charged per semester? 7. What are your suggestions in making this family club more business related than just becoming another student society? 8. In terms of content, which activities would you like the club to organize? 9. Do you believe your family (family business) would be interested in having regular contact with the club (in terms of being guest speakers, sponsors, creating job opportunities)? 10. After graduating, would you be interested in being part of alumni of the club?

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