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The kicker is at the end. Should future generations be obligated to continue the family business even if they resent it?
by Axsuul 6y ago
The kicker is at the end. Should future generations be obligated to continue the family business even if they resent it?
- NikolaeVarius 6y agoThats what adopting full grown adults as sons is for.
- Axsuul 6y agoYellowstone (TV show) reference? :)
- NikolaeVarius 6y agoNo thats what they literally do https://freakonomics.com/2011/08/09/the-church-of-scionology-why-adult-adoption-is-key-to-the-success-of-japanese-family-firms/#:~:text=The%20current%20Japanese%20business%20landscape,rather%20than%20his%20biological%20son https://freakonomics.com/2011/08/09/the-church-of-scionology....
- ch4s3 6y agoNo, that’s just a literal description of how these old Japanese businesses pass themselves along for centuries.
- geogra4 6y agoOddly enough that's also how roman emperors handled dynastic succession[0]. In a world with 40% child mortality, it was more of a sure thing than gambling on having a biological heir. 0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adoption_in_ancient_Rome https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adoption_in_ancient_Rome
- ch4s3 6y agoYeah the “good emperors” did that, but just as often there were coups by the praetorian guard or some general marched down from Gaul.
- err4nt 6y agoUsually we try keep family and business apart (nepotism is seen as evil), but the way businesses run so often exploits or abuses humans and families. With this mindset of adopting future business owners into your real family, it's putting family above business even in business. I wonder how the results pan out, maybe there's wisdom in here we're largely missing by the way we approach things.
- OJFord 6y agoIt's a common practice in Japan.
- johannes1234321 6y agoEspecially for Japan this is the correct answer. https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/japanese-adoption-rates-majority-adult-men-a7524301.html https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/japanese-adoption-r...
- purple_ferret 6y agoLook at it this way, how many families have the reliability of a thousand years streak of employment? If it ain't broke...
- felipemnoa 6y agoHell no!
- supernova87a 6y agoWell, in some respect, that is the strength of culture. Culture is a software that controls what people do, and what their country becomes (to some significant extent). For some purposes, such a culture is very restrictive and discontent-inducing. But for other purposes, this culture might help you survive through long problems and dangerous situations that might kill off a people who believed in doing whatever you want and bailing when things get hard. It really depends on the environment that it operates within -- this is not a statement that a particular culture is "better" in every case. Side note, this is why, as a visitor to Japan, you get to enjoy all the benefits of seeing the examples of what discipline (and inflexibility) can bring -- but you would go crazy and not be happy if you had to live there.
- jacobwilliamroy 6y agoIt's important to have assets. If the family business is an asset with opportunity to grow in value, by all means the next generation should be overjoyed that someone built something which they now have an opportunity to take over and continue building. Not all family businesses are like this though, as people in general are weak and wretched; family business owners can easily ruin themselves and their descendents by going into debt, or embezzling money away from the business to fuel personal vices which invite poverty and instability. As with many things in life, the make-or-break factor ultimately falls upon how well the parents have matured as human beings, and the quality of the upbringing they've given to their descendents. So I would say it is impossible to make a rigid, universal determination one way or the other. All I know is I would do anything if my parents or their parents asked. Anything.