How to Professionalize the Family Firm

One of the great issues family firms deal with is the need to keep the lifecycle of the business congruent with the lifecycle of the product or service the business provides. Varying consumer tastes and preferences, the entrance of deregulated utilities, and the growth of consolidators backed with IPO capital present challenges to the existing HVACR family firm. If the family firm is to move from the informal state of operation into a culture that is continually renewed, the firm must professionalize. Professionalizing the firm from its mom-and-pop origins requires the development of policies related to basic management principles and organizational values.