The development of artificial intelligence has accelerated dramatically over the last decade, and the impact can be felt in all walks of life. Family businesses now have access to a whole range of new opportunities to grow and make their operations more efficient through AI.
In our 40th special feature, we explore the advances of AI and how they impact the family business.
Also in this issue family business stories from France, Finland, Peru, Nigeria, Italy, USA, Germany, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Argentina and more.
Articles
Instantly recognised by its stylishly minimalist signage: elegant white lettering on a clean black background, bakery Paul boasts over 700 sales points on four continents and is still growing. Behind the brand is a remarkable entrepreneurial family business story...
Inspired by his boyhood experiences as an assistant to the local blacksmith, engineer Máximo San Román built a business developing machines for kneading, baking and slicing bread. However, he credits his success to his partnership with his wife Irene....
The design and manufacture of top-quality office furniture has been the Vikström family’s passion for 90 years.
ISKU, the Vikström’s business, has built a reputation for exemplary design and environmentally friendly production practices. Their manufacturing facility in Lahti, Finland,...
In Nigeria’s booming oil and gas industry, the ARCO Group is atypical in its family-ownership and operation. Multinationals like Shell and ExxonMobil have a formidable presence here, and other domestic producers, Addax Petroleum, for example, have recently become subsidiaries...
Blending automation and social media marketing with traditional farming practices, Dierks Farms is a fifth-generation family business that is redefining modern agriculture. After inheriting the family farm in Southern Illinois, Larry and Pam Dierks discovered that raising grass-fed cattle and...
Interview with Dr Danko Nikolic, PhD
CDO and Head of AI at savedroid, CEO at RobotsGoMental, Associated with Max Planck Institute for Brain Research
Will artificial intelligence develop emotional capabilities to a depth where it can duplicate human interactions?
Dr Danko...
Ann Sophie K. Löhde
Associate CEO at aiso-lab GmbH, Senior Research Fellow at WIFU Witten Institute for Family Business
Dr Giovanna Campopiano
Associate Professor of Family Business at Lancaster University Management School, Director of the LUMS Centre for Family Business, Senior Research Fellow...
Interview with Gianluca Mauro
Founder of the AI Academy
Gianluca Mauro first became immersed in AI after earning a Fulbright Scholarship and spending six months on a placement in Silicon Valley. At that time, AI was the most common topic of...
Long before MIT computer scientist John McCarthy coined the term artificial intelligence in 1956, we were fascinated by the idea of machines with human characteristics. As early as 1863, English author Samuel Butler, in his article “Darwin Among the...
Understanding the transformative power of group fitness helped Phillip Mills, the Managing Director of Les Mills, grow his family’s New Zealand-based gym business across oceans. The determination to share his passion with the world has made Les Mills-branded classes...
The diversity of the Katz family’s experience in the shoe industry is remarkable. From climbing the ladder into factory ownership and building boots for WWII GIs to facing insolvency only to rebound and generate revenues in the hundreds of...
The Argentinian company Juguetes Rasti was founded in 1965 by Antonio Dimare, an Italian immigrant with a passion for making toys. The original Rasti line, a set of building blocks that could be attached together to form different objects,...
Impact investing is a relatively new phenomenon but holds the potential to radically change the entire investment landscape. With a focus on positive social and environmental change in addition to financial returns, impact investing offers investors the chance to...
Judy Green, PhD, is president of the Family Firm Institute, an international professional association of individuals and organisations that advise and study multi-generational family enterprises. She is a frequent commentator on topics in the family enterprise field.
Patricia M. Annino,...
It was a landmark achievement. By ratifying the Paris Agreement on December 12th, 2015, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) set quantifiable targets towards a sustainable low-carbon future. To reach the goals set out by the Paris...
Holding companies are an interesting legal construct – they are not operational, so do not provide a product or service – but their business is the ownership of assets. Since the Rockefeller’s pioneering Standard Oil, the holding has revolutionised...
Despite forming the backbone of the global economy, family businesses still have limited choices tailored to their specific needs and challenges in the education space. Family businesses not only demand the same operating acumen of other organisations, but they...
More than 25 years later, Guy French (modified name) still remembers the unshakable feeling of dread. He had just begun his studies at a well-respected Journalism Program in Eastern Canada and was well on his way to fulfilling his...