The meeting with the non-family CEO and 14-person family-ownership team had started off tenuously but was developing good momentum. 他们在一起开会，以帮助建立对公司财务目标的相互理解. The vague statements of the family to “give us a profitable return” were no longer sufficient to help the CEO in his strategic planning. He used a sports analogy to help drive the conversation: “I need to know where the sidelines and end zone are — then I can run the plays. 我需要以一种切实可行的方式了解你的目标.”

这家人意识到他们还有很多工作要做，因为他们从来没有量化过自己的财务目标.  If they could agree on a “dashboard” of key indicators management would understand what was expected and owners, 即使是那些金融知识相对较少的人, 可以跟踪公司业绩.

业主一致的关键指标

One of the most important responsibilities of owners of a family-owned business is to contribute to the long-term success of both the business and the family. 他们必须以各种方式做到这一点, 包括良好的管理, 有效的沟通, 明确的财务目标. 这些财务目标包括我们所说的 GRPL:增长、风险、盈利能力和流动性. Ownership families who go through the valuable process of defining what these goals are find the project rewarding and highly useful for the guidance that it gives to the Board and business leaders, 以及它作为一个所有权组所提供的一致性. 

Defining GRPL in the earlier stage of a business is something that usually emerges from the small family management team as part of their strategic business planning. 但随着企业和所有权集团发展成为第二, 第三或第四代所有者集团, GRPL是那些所有者需要重新审视和定义的东西. 然而, many ownership groups do not necessarily have the skills or qualifications to define these goals in a way that is useful to the business. 此外, managers will likely be very uncomfortable with a group of family owners telling them what their goals should be. 这就是为什么我们提倡在定义GRPL的过程中进行协作的原因.

多年来，西南地区的一个制造业家族在企业和家庭方面都有了长足的发展. 所有权小组现在有30多人，业务继续以健康的速度增长. 但当企业因疫情而陷入困境时, 他们无法支付股东已经习以为常的股息. 对一些人来说，这是一个小问题，但对另一些人来说，这是一个很大的困难. 由于一些业主要求提供有关预期回报率的更详细指标，双方关系开始紧张起来, 业务增长, 股利公式. 

家族委员会意识到，他们没有在财务目标上与股东保持一致, 这种缺乏一致性造成了一些挑战，如果不加以解决，可能会产生问题.  经过一系列深思熟虑的会议, 家族委员会开始了一项全面的倡议，试图确定所有者的财务目标. 在一个引导者的帮助下，他们开始探索GRPL对他们的意义的各个方面.

增长

老板们对增长的定义多种多样. 建立关键指标时, 许多业主首先考虑的是他们的业务性质. 例如，在资产或房地产导向的公司中，增长可能集中在不断增长的房地产价值上. 在其他行业，这可能意味着通过收入来衡量增长. 作为主人, 你可以问其他重要的问题，比如:我们是否希望在同一业务领域发展, 我们想要在地理上扩张吗, 还是我们想要多样化我们的产品和服务组合?

当所有者讨论为增长指标创建一个一致的仪表板时, 这也是一种界定他们希望公司如何“推动”增长的练习, 以及建立速度限制和道路(大道). Owners who speak in one voice to the Board and Management about what type of growth they expect to see from the business helps communicate clear mandates that will be incorporated into strategic planning.

业主定义的增长参数的一些例子如下:

  • 销售额增长X个百分点
  • 增加市场份额
  • 提高客户满意度得分
  • 提高客户保留率
  • 资产增值
  • 员工人数增加
  • 地理增长- i.e. 开设新部门、新工厂、新办公室.

One aspect to consider is how owners will support that growth; whether organically, 或者通过高杠杆经营，或者通过并购. 多年来，许多家族企业通过持续的再投资实现了有机增长. 尽管如此，有机增长通常会阻碍高增长率. 随着家族企业转型, 一些业主可能对增长速度有不同的需求和期望. 更快的增长很可能需要牺牲流动性或盈利能力. 如何对齐, 所有者希望公司在哪里以及以多快的速度增长，这是一致的所有权愿景的关键组成部分.

风险

分析风险时, 业主首先要确定他们的企业面临哪些类型的内部风险, 从外部，甚至通过自己的所有权集团. Examples of diverse risk considerations include shareholders who will likely want to exit ownership in the near future, 他们经营的国家政局不稳, 承担多少债务和ESG实践.

在确定风险类型之后, the next task is to define as owners how you believe these risks should be managed (for example through an audit and risk committee on the Board), 然后创建一个统一的风险声明.

这就是班尼特家族的情况, 在西雅图地区拥有一家大型房地产公司的第三代表亲财团. 在他们的所有权会议上讨论GRPL, 家族首席执行官热情地说服他的堂兄弟们:“伙计们, 我们的杠杆率严重偏低. 我们行业的平均水平是40%，而我们是8%.“他们的独立董事会曾建议增加杠杆，以继续增加他们的投资组合. 但业主们对什么感到满意呢?

Through this exercise the ownership group established the following parameters: low risk meant below 20% debt leverage, 中位风险为20-30%, 30-50%的高风险.  They polled the group and the results were pretty uniform that the family would accept a median risk profile, 为董事会和管理层如何管理债务和风险提供了更明确的指导方针.

盈利能力

盈利能力是衡量企业价值的一种方式. 对于家族企业来说，它是推动企业和家族财富创造的动力. 可持续的利润往往是家族共同创业的核心原因. 否则，家族企业将是非营利性组织.

A thoughtful discussion around profitability explores the fundamental question: What return are we seeking on our investment at this moment in time? 不同的行业有不同的投资回报率参数, 以及什么构成了高质量的盈利能力. 通常, 更高的盈利要求将影响公司的增长速度和风险承受能力.

以李氏家族为例. 作为一个家庭, 他们成功地拥有和经营度假村多年，因此, 同时也增长了大量的房地产投资组合. 生意让这个家庭能够提供一种他们都珍视的生活方式和经济保障. 随着家庭的成长和过渡到四口人th 一代, the new ownership group was faced with the dilemma of how to continue to provide the lifestyle they were accustomed to and still maintain a healthy company. They discussed how the profitability goals of the business needed to change in order to meet the evolving needs of the family.

有管理层的投入, 董事会和财务顾问, they established new profitability metrics that led to the company gradually restructuring the business in order to be able to yield more returns. 而前几代人专注于增长和大量再投资, 在这个阶段, 他们的投资策略转变为不那么以增长为中心的方式, 但它能带来更高的利润回报和流动性.

流动性

Establishing a clear metric for expected liquidity can be a tricky subject as ownership configuration changes over time. 不同的业主可能在不同的时间有不同的需求. 在这个阶段, the ownership group seeks to align themselves on the following: How do we value the trade-off between investments and providing liquidity to the shareholders? 我们如何评估股息的可预测性. 有机会获得可能不稳定但更高的股息?

重访西南制造业大家庭, 所有人都认为，公司应该始终向股东提供某种形式的年度流动性, 就像过去一样. 他们重视增长，但许多人依赖每年的股息，而且大学学费即将到来. 他们与来自所有权集团的利益相关者团队合作, management team and board members to establish a 10% minimum dividend policy which gave shareholders a consistent return and was manageable for the business. The collaborative process to arrive at those liquidity metrics was additive and effective because it was a team effort with the goal of team success.

结论

Taking a strategic look at GRPL as a team allows for a cohesive ownership group that provides the Board and management with the right information for a balanced plan of attack. 它们是“行军命令”，可以帮助在整个系统中建立一致性和问责制. 记住, 重要的不仅仅是最终结果, 但就GRPL的要素达成一致的过程可能是最重要的.  Investing the time in a collaborative process that integrates the perspectives of all stakeholders will result in alignment of financial goals to support the continuity of the business and family.