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Log Jam

Published July 1, 1990 Robert Charm |

Two sons are near-polar opposites in temperament, personality, and business style. A toe-to-toe argument between them has put everyone in the company on edge. Fearing the tension could paralyze the b...

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Facing Up to the Perils of Patriarchy

Published July 1, 1990 Peter Davis |

When I give a talk to family business owners in Mexico, I almost never find a company in the fourth generation. The tales of famous split-ups in family companies make constant cocktail party conversa...

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Strategy and Tactics

Published July 1, 1990 Donald J. Jonovic |

0ne of my clients uttered the damning words just a few weeks ago: "I don't believe strategic planning makes sense for a business like mine. I'm worried that all this planning will overwhelm my instin...

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How to Hold a Family Feud

Published July 1, 1990 David Graulich |

The family feud is usually considered the bane of family business. That's because the typical feud can be a nasty thing to behold — petty, dismal, and disruptive. Not all family feuds, howeve...

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The Forbes Mystique

Published July 1, 1990 Jayne A. Pearl |

With the death of his father last winter, Malcolm Stevenson "Steve" Forbes Jr., 42, inherited control of the elegant yacht, the Highlander; properties from Fiji to France; hot-air balloons; motorcycl...

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Fiscal Fitness

Published July 1, 1990 Richard J. Martin |

p>There was little to hold them back. After Congress loosened the regulatory reins in the early eighties, savings and loan executives leaped onto the same high wire as the rest of the financial co...

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Tolerating Alcohol and Drugs: A Deadly Habit

Published June 1, 1990 Janet Bamford |

Not long ago, a woman and her husband's brother came to Ed Storti for help. The San Pedro, California, counselor is an interventionist. It is his job to convince drug and alcohol addicts to enter trea...

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Strategy is the Key to Staying in the Game

Published June 1, 1990 Peter Davis |

Back in the fifties, a Maryland chicken farmer was contemplating how he could make a go of a business that he had taken over from his parents. Chicken in those days was, well, just — chicken; e...

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Starting Over from Ground Zero

Published June 1, 1990 Stephen J. Simurda |

A menacing barbed-wire fence surrounds the 60-acre site amid the scrubby pine barrens. Along the fence, ominous No Trespassing signs warn of explosives and the dangers of smoking. Inside, the nerve c...

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Debra Benditz's Pipe Dream?

Published June 1, 1990 Laurel Brubaker Calkins |

After five years at her dad's company in Houston, which supplies pipe for drilling oil wells, Debra Benditz itched to have a larger say in how things were run, but her father tended to wave off her m...

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How the Culvers Found Their Niche

Published June 1, 1990 Dan Rottenberg |

The early morning scene in the Middlebury, Indiana, farmhouse, just 10 miles from the Michigan border, could have been painted by Norman Rockwell. While Marilyn Culver, 61, bustles about her modern k...

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Building a Dynasty of Bricks and Blood

Published June 1, 1990 Lou Moscatello |

The Lefrak Organization began as a simple construction company launched by architect Harry LeFrak in 1905 soon after he emigrated from France to New York City. Today, it is a $3 billion multi-buildin...

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The Real Value of Outsiders on the Board

Published June 1, 1990 Gerald Le Van |

Jack is successful, powerful, and wealthy. But he is uncomfortably alone as CEO of JacMar Corp. His two sons, his other employees, his lawyers, and consultants all do his bidding. No one really chall...

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Splitting the Business to Unify the Family

Published June 1, 1990 Mike Cohn |

Sometimes a family has to divide a business if it's going to conquer problems that threaten family unity, as David Boyd recently learned. His younger son, Kevin, had been managing the family's buildin...

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When Brotherly Love Isn't Enough

Published June 1, 1990 Gail Buchalter |

At age 40, Rick Freeman was in crisis. He had to figure out what he wanted to do with his life. He knew one thing for sure — he was suffocating under the constraints imposed by his older brothe...

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The Risks in Employing Your Kid for the Summer

Published June 1, 1990 Stan Luxenberg |

Parents who own businesses might seem to have an easy solution to the kids' summer employment problem. Employing children in the family business, however, can pose a delicate dilemma, and the stakes ...

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Mother in the Middle

Published June 1, 1990 Craig Mellow |

One can not help but feel when speaking with Gertrude Crain that she could soothe a wounded panther. Or, more importantly for her purposes, iron out the differences between her two ambitious and capab...

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Funerals R Us

Published June 1, 1990 Harvey D. Shapiro |

There are no sample products in the lobby of Service Corporation International's highrise headquarters on the fringe of Houston's downtown. Nor are there pictures of SCI facilities, or testimonials f...

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A Contrarian's View on Retiring: Don't Do It

Published June 1, 1990 Donald J. Jonovic |

If a business owner retires at 65, plays 18 holes of golf a day, 365 days a year, until the day the actuaries predict he'll join the Eternal Cash Flow, he'll have to flog 660,000 golf balls off the en...

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Why We'll Never Go Public

Published May 30, 1990 Samuel C. Johnson |

There are distinct advantages to being a family corporation, especially when you are competing against public firms. Public companies do have some advantages, principally, unlimited access to the pub...

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