This was a very disturbing movie in my opinion. Sure, it gives us a lot of insight into family business, but it also says a lot about human character and the lack of it. Now, where do we start? Maybe with the father who didn’t have a succession plan, but very much wanted his son to be part of the family business. As the plot unfolds, I understood that it had to do with leadership and how it was really the mother who was running the business. I have no doubt that she was partially responsible of her husband’s heart attack. I really disliked her from the start to the end of the movie.
Just like Ed in the Blanchard family, Chris became very successful on his own, out of the family business. He had created something of value that he liked, besides people who helped him be productive and pro-active. When his father passed away, he was summoned by his mother to take his responsibilities toward the family business and let go of his previous engagements without any concern for his wife. Chris was swallowed whole by the family business.
We see him grow from being a timid CEO who was perceived as weak and useless by the stakeholders to a man that will eventually take the family business to the next level with the support of mentors such as his mother and the CFO. To me, he never grew in character. He is a weak man who will always be a mama’s boy. Let’s be real for an instant: it was not until the end that he really made a decision on his own by cutting the bridge from a life filled with love to a life chosen by his mother.
Chris’ first wife loved him and tried so hard to be the glue but was completely left out of every decision. The poor woman never had no chance to survive in such an environment and not even a son could help her keep her family together. She played by asking her husband to choose between his own and his family needs but lost to the family business. I am just wondering what role this son will play in the future? He is first born so should have a stake in the family business if he has the potential and the desire. But, who knows what will happen with an ambivalent father like Chris. Maybe we will see a case like Dick, the ambivalent CEO. We already see that Chris’ second wife is very ambitious and patient. So…
There was no governance structure in the family business. We’ve studied that there are 3 basic parts in the family business: the business, the family, the ownership. In this movie, the business was so intertwined with the family and the boundaries between the two entities so thin that they became nonexistent. We know that each subsystem in a family system needs to be healthy individually in order for the family to stay intact and for the business to survive as a multi-generational family business.But again it is different here.
There were several ownership meetings, formals and informals, but the sister who is also an owner was rarely present. There were also many board meetings; again the sister was left out. There was a consensus that women were kind of taboo and did not participate in the daily operations of the business. From the exterior, it was a world of men even when it was really the mother making all of the major family and business decisions. She never accepted her daughter’s involvement in the business because of what she believes is weakness but is in fact humanity in the daughter. She made Chris fire first the daughter’s husband on false pretense since there was never any proof, only assumptions. She also made him fire this man who devoted his whole life to the business and was a designer in taking it to the next level. One would argue that she did all of it for the sake of the business, but still….
I do not see any continuity in this business when the mother will die. There are still no succession plans, the advisory board is made up primarily of family members, no independent outsiders who will offer different perspective to the company issues. I can only foresee this family business turning into a corporation. The transformation already started with the merger with the French company.
Wow! You were really harsh on Chris. I agree with some of your points and I think his wife was the biggest victim in all of this. But I cannot help but feel sorry for Chris. The only time I thought that Chris was displaying a lack of morality is when he tried to rape that maid. Even then, he could not follow through with it. I don’t think Chris is a bad guy. He takes the role of responsibility very seriously and for selfless reason. He knows that if the company goes under that a lot of his family and many others will be out of a job. He really cares for all of them and had to do some seemingly unjust things in order to keep the business alive.
Yet, I completely agree with your commentary on the mother. She was a heartless slug throughout the entire film. She definitely led Chris down the wrong path at times.
I agree with you in some points such as that Chris was swallowed whole by the family business and that the mother was a heartless person. She was supposed to be the person who kept all family members together in harmony, however; she was doing the opposite. Also, the absence of a succession plan made Chris succession a normative commitment. Poza states that normative commitment is when a person makes a decision to work elsewhere until the father indicate that he/she is need in the family business. Because of the father’s request, he/she feel obligated to join the family business. Lastly, the lack of character in Chris, his sister and wife who were also part owners of the company made them to be susceptible to the orders of the mother who I think will have a monarch exit and as a result, succession planning will never take place.