家族企业需要证明自己的优越性
家族拥有的企业以往得不到太多尊重——如果它们被人注意到的话。许多上市公司拥有分散的所有权，由职业高管进行管理，后者获得驱使他们拿出业绩的财务激励，并受到维权股东的持续压力。
When many family businesses make the news, it is often because of disputes among relatives, such as the bitter tussle between the Ambani brothers in India, or when the next generation at companies such as News Corp struggle to show they can match the founder or leader.
许多家族企业登上新闻，往往是因为亲属之间的纠纷，如印度安巴尼(Ambani)兄弟之间的激烈争斗，或是新闻集团(News Corp)等公司的下一代竭力证明自己并不逊于创始人或领导者的时候。
But things are changing for family companies. For one thing, the model of capitalism followed since the shareholder revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, is looking tired. As the tenure of chief executives decreases and the clamour from hedge funds for short-term returns increases, doubts are growing about whether this is the best way to build a company’s long-term value.
但对家族企业来说，事情正在发生变化。首先，自上世纪70和80年代股东革命以来遵循的资本主义模式已显出疲态。随着首席执行官任期缩短，随着对冲基金竞相要求短期回报，人们越来越怀疑这是不是打造公司长期价值的最佳方式。
Meanwhile, despite their image of being cautious and inward-looking, family-owned businesses on average perform well. Credit Suisse research found that the returns of 1,000 such companies outperformed public markets by 55 per cent between 2006 and this year. This was despite having slacker governance standards and a conservative attitude to risk-taking.
与此同时，尽管给外界以谨慎和保守内向的形象，但家族企业总的来看表现得很好。瑞信(Credit Suisse)的研究发现，从2006年至2017年，1000家家族企业的回报率比上市公司高出55%——这还是在治理标准比较松散、对冒险持保守态度的背景下。
Another reason to rethink is that the rise of technology giants still controlled by their founders means that some of the world’s most valuable companies are family controlled (Credit Suisse defined this as a family or founder holding a 20 per cent stake or voting control). That includes Alphabet, Google’s parent company, Facebook and Alibaba, the Chinese internet giant, as well as Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.
让人重新思考的另一原因是，仍由创始人控制的科技巨头的崛起意味着，全球估值最高的一些公司是由家族控制的(瑞信对此的定义是一个家族或者创始人持有20%股权或投票控制权)。这些企业包括谷歌(Google)的母公司Alphabet、Facebook、中国互联网巨头阿里巴巴(Alibaba)以及沃伦•巴菲特(Warren Buffett)旗下的伯克希尔哈撒韦公司(Berkshire Hathaway)。
The trend may be reinforced through the rise of Chinese and other Asian family groups. Of the 1,000 studied by Credit Suisse, more than half — 536 — were Asian. Asian family companies tend to be younger than their European equivalents and are based in faster growing economies, which has helped the Korean chaebol and Indian “promoters”, a term often used in India to describe a firm’s founding shareholders.
中国等亚洲国家家族企业的崛起可能强化这种趋势。在瑞信研究的1000家家族企业中，超过半数(536家)为亚洲企业。亚洲家族企业往往比欧洲家族企业年轻，而且都在增长较快的经济体，这推动了韩国财阀(chaebol)和印度“发起人”(promoter，在印度常被用于称呼一家公司的创始股东)的崛起。
Family companies still have vulnerabilities. A long-running study of management practices at 12,000 companies in 34 countries by academics at London Business School found that family companies scored the lowest on operational excellence. That was often because family members wanted to retain operational control and were unwilling to recruit outside managers with expertise.
家族企业仍然存在一些脆弱性。伦敦商学院(London Business School)的学者对34个国家1.2万家企业的管理实践进行的长期研究发现，家族企业在运营卓越方面得分最低。这往往是因为家族成员希望保留运营控制权，不愿聘用具有专长的外部经理人。
Despite that, as a UBS study of family companies found, the positives often outweigh the negatives. Family companies have advantages over those with more dispersed and less loyal shareholders — a keener sense of identity and the essence of the company, the willingness to make long-term investments that will not pay off for some years, as well as more purpose.
尽管如此，正如瑞银(UBS)对家族企业的一项研究所发现的，家族企业的积极因素往往大于消极因素。相比那些股东更分散、忠诚度较低的公司，家族企业的优势在于对企业身份和精髓的强烈认同，愿意作出多年后才能收回投资的长期投资，以及更具目的性。
“The most successful business-owning families do not put profit maximisation first,” writes Denise Kenyon-Rouvinez, professor of family business at the IMD business school in Lausanne. “When you spend time with them, you notice that they have an intense pride for the business and its history. They also have a really deep sense of family, unity and mutual support.”
“最成功的商业家族不会把利润最大化放在首位，”瑞士洛桑国际管理发展学院(IMD)研究家族企业的丹尼丝•凯尼恩-罗维内兹(Denise Kenyon-Rouvinez)教授表示，“当你花时间和他们相处时，你会发现，他们对企业及其历史有着强烈的自豪感。他们还拥有十分深厚的家族、团结和相互支持意识。”
This has financial value. Family companies, especially those still based where they were founded, are unlikely to put at risk what they have built over generations by becoming over-stretched or diversifying from their roots. Family shareholders of companies such as Frescobaldi, the Tuscan winemaker that was founded 700 years ago, will stay committed.
这一点具有财务价值。家族企业，尤其是那些总部仍位于创始地点的企业，不太可能由于过度扩张或偏离根基的多元化而使几代人建立的基业面临风险。拥有700年历史的托斯卡纳葡萄酒酿造商花思蝶(Frescobaldi)等企业的家族股东将继续守业。
Most businesses start out under family control — the exceptions are those started by, or spun out of, established public companies. Most of them also remain within private and family control: they never reach the size where they are confronted with the prospect of dealing with other shareholders.
大多数企业都是在家族控制下起家的——例外的是那些由老牌上市公司创建或剥离的企业。其中多数仍处于私人和家族控制之下：永远达不到要与其他股东打交道的规模。
Even for large companies, retaining familial control has also become easier. There is no shortage of private equity for companies that want to expand without having to go public. Many Silicon Valley venture funds also support the founders retaining control through dual class voting shares if companies go public — they regard that as conducive to long-term growth.
即便对于大企业，保持家族控制也已经变得更加容易。对于那些希望不通过上市进行扩张的公司来说，私人股本并不稀缺。如果企业要上市，许多硅谷风投基金也支持企业创始人通过双重股权结构保留对公司的控制权——他们认为这有利于长期增长。
But the blurring of the line between private family businesses and public companies with dispersed shareholders brings with it new challenges. The founders of companies such as Alphabet and Facebook have made big claims for the benefits of being allowed to retain control. However, controversy at Uber under Travis Kalanick, its co-founder, who resigned this year after a series of scandals that made observers questions his leadership, cast doubt on the wisdom of this.
但是，私人家族企业与拥有分散股东的上市公司之间界限越来越模糊，也带来了新的挑战。Alphabet、Facebook等公司的创始人极力鼓吹自己被允许保留控制权的好处。然而，优步在联合创始人特拉维斯•卡兰尼克(Travis Kalanick)执掌下曝出的争议，让人对这种做法的明智性产生怀疑。卡兰尼克今年在一系列丑闻曝光后辞去首席执行官职务，这些丑闻引发观察人士质疑其领导能力。
As family companies gain more attention, their benefits and drawbacks will no longer remain of limited interest. Public companies with dispersed shareholders have faced such scrutiny for decades. If families believe they can build businesses more effectively, they will need to prove it.
随着家族企业获得更多关注，人们对它们的优势和劣势将不再兴趣有限。拥有分散股东的上市公司受到这样的关注已有好几十年。如果家族相信自己能够更有效地打造企业，他们将需要证明这一点。
