A family business is defined as any business involving two or more family members, with a majority of ownership or control belonging to a family. It’s estimated that roughly 90 percent of American businesses are family-owned or controlled, and as family-owned organizations are the most frequently encountered ownership model in the world, some research estimates putting their impact on global GDP at over 70 percent.
This year, the Schlesinger Global Family Enterprise Case Competition (SG-FECC), hosted annually by the Grossman School of Business comprises 2 events; a virtual event that kicks off September 25, 2021and a planned in-person event beginning January 12, 2022.
The virtual competition, comprising 27 teams representing some of the world’s finest family business programs, includes a preliminary round in October, and culminates with a finals round on November 13, 2021 when the winning undergraduate and graduate teams will be announced by the judges.
In the 2021 competition, the Lazaridis School of Business & Economics team from Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada took top honors in the undergraduate division, while the team from Esade Business School, Spain emerged victorious in the graduate division.
The SG-FECC is a unique, annual competition focused on family businesses, with significant Grossman student planning and hosting involvement, that showcases exceptional undergraduate and master’s students’ case writing, analysis and presentation skills. Students apply the knowledge and expertise they have developed in the classroom toward solving complex family business cases.
For the virtual SG-FECC competition the participating teams are:
Undergraduate
Alabama State University
Bishop’s University
Grand Valley State University
Rotterdam University AS
Ryerson University
Universidad de los Andes
Universidad Panamericana México
University of California Berkeley
University of Toronto
University of Vermont
Wilfrid Laurier University
Williams College
Graduate
FIA – Fundação Instituto de Administração
Hasselt University
Heilbronn University
National Sun Yat-sen University
Sasin School of Management
Telfer School of Management
Universidad Francisco Marroquin
University of Vermont