Paths to Keep Wealth in Family Hands

Since the onset of the global financial crisis, there has been a surge of interest among family businesses in the activities of family offices -- special entities designed to manage and administer a family's portfolio of investments, while also making sure that future wealth-creation activities happen in sustainable ways for generations to come. With the combined wealth of the 50 largest family offices representing nearly $1 trillion, family businesses are naturally keen to take direct control of their considerable assets through these vehicles, and this trend looks set to continue. To gain a clearer picture of what's happening in this growing field, the authors analyzed family business cases from the United States and Spain to explore why and how families set up and develop family offices. Their findings suggest that the success of the process depends on the extent to which the family's values and vision are aligned with an entrepreneurial strategy; and the presence of well-defined systems, structures and processes, and in particular entrepreneurial behavior and attitudes.