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In the past 50 years, many family businesses in a variety of industries have become extinct, or at least endangered species. The odds of a family business lasting three generations have always been long, but the rate of product adoption and obsolescence today makes this dream even less likely. For example, it took 50 years for the telephone and the automobile, introduced in the late 1800s, to gain 50 million users worldwide. Compare that with the cell phone, introduced in 1973, and Skype Internet calling, which debuted in 2003. These technologies took only 11 years and two years, respectively, to gain 50 million users. With few exceptions, product life cycles have been condensed from decades down to years.

How family businesses have changed

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