Program Topics of GEGN Business Group Workshops

Typical Program Topics of GEGN Business Group Workshops:

Privately Controlled Business Groups in the Global Economy
A review of the challenges for privately controlled businesses from emerging countries in the global economy. The dismantling of barriers to international trade is opening up huge forces. How should such groups react to these forces and take advantage of them?

Aligning the Ownership Needs with the Business Needs
An insight into the requirements and the complexity of strategically aligning the ownership and control element with the business in the context of a large, complex, diversified and multi-owner group of companies. What are the merits of having the ownership in tune with the business and the business in tune with the ownership? What are the difficulties here? How are we to overcome these difficulties? What governance structures are necessary to streamline the needs of the top-control team with the business needs? How can we manage well the SOCIAL GROUP behind the top-control team whether this social group is a family or a group of partners and relatives or a group of private equity shareholders or people with direct or indirect interest in the company which influence formally or informally in a substantial way the direction of the business.

Strategy in the Multibusiness Firm
The pressures facing multibusiness firms are intense and multifaceted. Capital markets, boards of directors, and shareholders all demand that leaders formulate powerful corporate strategies. And as competition within product markets intensifies, diversified companies are discovering that success depends on the combined assets, skills, and capabilities of the firm as a whole. The complexity of diversification makes focus difficult. The complexity of the varying stages of business maturity of the subsidiaries makes management even more difficult. Not to mention also the complexity as a result of varying shareholdings in the subsidiaries and complexity brought about by varying market volatility in each business unit. How can we achieve the right balance in an increasingly hostile and focused competitive environment? What tools can we use to strategise in this direction? Achieving synergy and creating competitive advantage.

Patterns of Diversification
All multibusiness companies need to be able to justify their ownership of the businesses in the group. The corporate-level strategy must therefore show how and why the parent adds value to the businesses.How can privately controlled business groups from emerging countries diversify to meet new opportunities without compromising their core competencies. What are these patterns of diversification? When do groups go wrong in their diversification efforts? How can they avoid the pitfalls?

Factors of Success
Discovering the factors which affect the success or failure of such a fragile organisation in emerging markets and insights into how it can succeed in reaching its maximum capabilities. What are the pre-requisites for becoming an Emerging International Giant? Tata in India, Haier in China, Hyundai in South Korea were once small companies who have grown to their level of today. What were the contexts and patterns in the path which has led to their successful growth?

The Fight of the Giants
Privately Controlled Business Groups are the backbone of many economies particularly in developing countries. How can they protect themselves and continue sustaining themselves in the future? How can they compete against tough foreign giant multinationals who may erode their local and international market territory?

Financing, Control and Corporate Governance
Problems of Financing, Control and Corporate Governance in Large Business Groups. It is tough to keep financing business growth and investment in the business while retaining private control and the shareholders happy. How can this issue be managed? What governance mechanisms need to be created?

Succession
Business Groups can be a very painstaking process primarily in those multigenerational businesses whose ownership compliment has widened substantially. The complexity of this issue and the pitfalls that exist are tremendous. How should the succession process be managed in Privately Controlled Business Groups? How can senior generation leaders prepare the next generations to take on the helm?