By José Ángel de la Paz
Resilience is a family businesses' key and distinctive strength for overcoming scenarios of crisis and uncertainty, such as the current COVID-19 contingency.
“This pandemic is a test for all of us. The health of the world seems to be getting out of control and, consequently, all our systems are being rethought on a social, political and, of course, economic level. It is time to unlearn and imagine new realities that will lead us to build better environments for all,” said Maria Fonseca.
Therefore, according to the head of the Institute of Family Businesses for Mexico and Latin America at Tecnológico de Monterrey, family businesses play a major role in this reassessment.
“Given the challenges we are facing today, we would like to highlight the resilience and agility that family businesses are developing quite well. Their long-term vision and their desire to transcend generations through legacy are also relevant features associated with this type of organization,” said the expert and member of a family business in the agro-industrial sector.
These observations took place during the webinar “A conversation with inspirational leaders to help address the pandemic”, from EGADE Business School’s webinar series “Rising to the challenge: Leadership in the face of COVID-19“, in which prominent figures from the Family Business sector in Mexico and Latin America participated.
Ivan Lansberg, co-founder and senior partner of Lansberg, Gersick & Associates (LGA), explained that family businesses, as a global community, have a great ability to be resilient in the face of the current and future challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The consultant spoke about Amara's law, which states that, in most cases, humans tend to overestimate the effects of new technologies in the short term, while underestimating its long-term effect.
Translating this idea into the impact of COVID-19, Lansberg estimated that family businesses will be able to overcome uncertainty and adapt adequately to the challenges ahead.
“We have found that Family Businesses have a very long investment horizon and that they can overcome these crises by tapping into their institutional memory,” said Lansberg, as a man who grew up in a family of entrepreneurs in Venezuela and who was the first editor of the specialized magazine, Family Business Review.
Meanwhile, Susana Coppel, president of the Coppel Community Foundation and a member of the Board of Directors at Grupo Coppel, noted that her organization has been observing a transformation in the retail sector for several years, but never anticipated a crisis like that of COVID-19.
“We would have never imagined that, even in the worst-case scenario, we would have to close our doors. Now we are all working very hard, rethinking, and creating our contingency committees,” shared the Tec graduate and third-generation member of one of the largest and most successful family businesses in Mexico.
Faced with the contingency, this retail chain found itself ready to serve its customers effectively through its e-commerce channel, said Coppel.
WATCH THE WEBINAR HERE