Family Business – The XYZ Group: Family and Family Business Interaction Forum (Proposal)

Raju Swamy: Proposal: December 19, 2008

The XYZ Group
Family and Family Business Interaction Forum

1. Terms of  Reference
   1. The primary objective of the Forum is to function as a medium of inter-active communication between the management of the family business and the family members as stakeholders in the business.1.2. The members of the Forum will consist of   business-active partners, ‘dormant’ partners, and their immediate adult dependent family members.
   1.3. The Forum will meet twice a year, at the beginning of the First Quarter and Third Quarter of each financial year.
   1.4. The Forum will have a Chairman for each meeting from among all categories of partners by rotation. The Chairman will be responsible for the preparatory and follow-up work and the effective functioning of the Forum from taking over at the end of a meeting to the holding of the next meeting.
   1.5. Additional meetings of the Forum can be called by the Chairman of the Forum under emergent situations only.
   1.6. The Forum is not a decision making body for the purpose of day to day management of the business.  However, views expressed at the meeting will form part of inputs for consideration as appropriate by the Family Holding Company Board which represents the interests of Family Stakeholders for the day to day management of   the Group’s business interests. The members of the Family Holding Company Board are the business-active Family Members of the Group.
   1.7. The Forum is not a legal entity but a voluntary media for dissemination of information and exchange of views for the mutual benefit of the stakeholders of the BLISS Group.
2. Agenda for Forum Meeting:
   1. Performance and Prospects Review: The Chairman and members of the Family Holding Company Board will make a professional presentation on the state of the families’ business (The XYZ Group) in terms of individual companies and products and prospects and trends in the future. The presentation will reflect:2.1.1. Performance
   2.1.2. Commitment to the stakeholders’ interests
   2.1.3. Creating awareness of ground realities
   2.1.4. Important issues of policy having a bearing on stakeholders’ interest
   2.1.5. Business approach of being performance-oriented, merit-based, open, fair, firm, disciplined, protective, and forward looking
   2.1.6. Leadership and Team Strength
   2.2. Answers to Questions by the Family Holding Company Board to specific business-related questions raised by members of the Forum and provided to the Family Holding Company Board in advance of the meeting.
   2.3. Progress on Points of Action from the last Forum Meeting: By the Chairman of the Forum
   2.4. An Open Session to be moderated by the Chairman of the Forum
   2.5. Summing up and listing Points of Action: By the Chairman of the Forum
   2.6. Closing remarks by the Chairman of the Family Holding Company Board
3. Code of Conduct for Forum Meetings1. The ambience and arrangements for the meeting will be such as to make the members feel comfortable, important, and free of any tensions whatsoever.
   3.2. The obvious and visible purpose of the Forum is to promote unity of purpose and mutual respect and appreciation of points of view through improved multi-level and multi-directional communication of matters of mutual interest, without impinging on the rights of members to their privacy and independence, or on their right to information as stakeholders in the business.
   3.3. Business- active partners who are members of the Family Holding Company Board cannot raise matters for discussion that are primarily within the purview of the Family Holding Company Board.
   3.4. Questions / points for discussion should not be ‘personal’ in nature.
   3.5. Emphasis in the Forum should be on updating, educating, and creating awareness in line with the changing business environment in the country, and relating it to consequential corrective action desired from within the XYZ Group and its stakeholder families, to ‘change’ and to ‘adjust to change’.
   3.6. The output of the Forum must be such as to assist the XYZ Group and its stakeholder families, through their actions, to enhance their image and reputation in public and in specific communities they serve in, as being good in business, good in service to the community, and good in their personal values, and above all, Good for the Family.

Raju Swamy                                       
Founder
& Advisor to Family Business
PROMAG Consultancy Services
Apt. 206 Brigade Rathna
42 Ranga Rao Road
Shankarapuram
Bangalore – 560004 INDIA
Tel. +91-80-26676298/ Cell: 9845271498
Email: rajupromag@hotmail.com
www.promagconsult.in
www.familybusinessadvice.wordpress.com   (Blogsite)
Strengthening Family Dynamics for Family Business Growth…….since 1985