You might think that a country can only have one royal family. In most cases that\u2019s true, but that is not the case in Sweden. The Nordic nation\u2019s unofficial ruler arrives in St. Gallen wearing a black suit and green tie, carrying a small black backpack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marcus Wallenberg represents the fifth generation of one of the most powerful families in Sweden: The Wallenbergs. Their businesses have dominated the Swedish economy for over 160 years. According to the Financial Times, in 2015 the Wallenberg family controlled businesses worth around 250 billion Euro. However, Wallenberg does not like the word empire. \u201cCall it the WallenbergGroup or whatever,\u201d Wallenberg says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead of being royally reserved, Marcus Wallenberg is a man who quickly comes to the point when talking about family businesses: \u201cAs a company you have to make sure that you do not stop changing, evolving and thinking new,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The family business started in 1856, when Andr\u00e9 Wallenberg founded Stockholm\u2019s Enskilda Bank. Through a network of corporations and foundations, the family owns interests in companies like ABB Group, SAAB Group and Ericsson. When asked about the business values that the family\u2019s companies share, he often points out their long-term perspective and their ability to build businesses over a long time \u2013 attributes experts often cite as key traits of family-owned businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Wallenberg\u2019s network of companies are an extreme example of a family business, but they\u2019re far from alone. According to KPMG Enterprise, there are over 14 million family businesses in Europe, which provide more than 60 million private sector jobs in total.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even though most family businesses are not as big as Wallenberg\u2019s, most of them also rely on strong corporate values that are deeply embedded into their business strategies. Those values help shape the culture in both the controlling families and among their employees. Wallenberg says change also includes reflecting on which values are important to keep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But things are shifting for family companies, and so are business values: The Internet has created brand-new business models, and automation and AI are rewriting the way employees work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Research shows there are certain characteristics in family businesses that can work against innovation. A study by consultants from PwC Global asked more than 2,800 senior executives from family firms across 50 countries about the advantages and disadvantages of their companies. When asked about innovation and risk-taking, a third of the respondents said that family firms are less open to new thinking and ideas than other companies. Over 60 percent think that family firms are unwilling to take more risks than other companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wallenberg does not believe that family businesses are less innovative than startups. Still, he believes that the traditional companies have to change. \u201cIf you want to bring the best product and most innovative product at the best possible terms of condition to your customer, you have to change,\u201d he says. He believes that Chinese and US companies are better at innovation, particularly when it comes to technology and digitisation. \u201cIn the future, we have to compete with them.\u201d Therefore, traditional companies must keep their entrepreneurial spirit and understand how new technologies work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But can the Wallenbergs be compared to a much smaller family business? Compared to the Wallenbergs, Martel AG St. Gallen might be considered a small family company \u2013 even though Martel is one of the leading wine dealers in Switzerland. The family owns two shops in Saint Gallen and one in Zurich.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At first glance, Jan Martel\u2019s family firm has only two things in common with the Swedish family\u2019s empire: Both companies were established in the 19th century. And both men represent the fifth generation to run the family business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As far as Martel is concerned, there are two different camps when it comes to business models: Traditional companies and start-ups. \u201cA functional family firm has to include both sides of the
story,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just like the Wallenbergs, Martel does not believe that family firms will lack innovative spirit in the future. He says that oft-criticised decision-making procedures in family firms can be faster than those of start-ups. \u201cWe do not have to discuss things with investors, we can be fast and still express our values.\u201d That also includes adjusting their family values day by day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Neither Wallenberg nor Martel see a lack of willingness to change on the part of family firms. \u201cThere are examples of family businesses that have been around for a long time,\u201d says the Swedish banker. \u201cProbably they were pretty good at innovating and changing, otherwise they would not be in business anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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You might think that a country can only have one royal family. In most cases that\u2019s true, but that is not the case in Sweden. The Nordic nation\u2019s unofficial ruler arrives in St. Gallen wearing a black suit and green tie, carrying a small black backpack. Marcus Wallenberg represents the fifth generation of one of the most powerful families in Sweden: The Wallenbergs. Their businesses have dominated the Swedish economy for over 160 years. According to the Financial Times, in 2015 the Wallenberg family controlled businesses worth around 250 billion Euro. However, Wallenberg does not like the word empire. \u201cCall…<\/p>\n","category_list_v2":"INSIGHTS<\/a>","author_info_v2":{"name":"wordpress@weitblick-online.ch","url":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/author\/wordpressweitblick-online-ch\/"},"comments_num_v2":"0 comments","authors":[{"term_id":95,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"stefanie-diemand","display_name":"Stefanie Diemand","avatar_url":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/gravatars\/762b22de4bf1bf3924204e9b02554eaa","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2582"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3014,"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2582\/revisions\/3014"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2582"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/symposium.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=2582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}