Despite an extraordinary quantitative and qualitative growth of family business research, context, culture and cultural variations among family firms and business families have been given short shrift, and remain under-analyzed (Krueger et al. 2021). This is astonishing because almost three decades ago, Wortman (1995: 56) noted that “(p)resently, there are essentially no comparative studies of family business across cultural boundaries, ethnic boundaries, and country borders”. Nevertheless, and despite all efforts, fifteen years later, this diagnosis was re-confirmed by Gupta & Levensburg (2010).
One way to change this might be the incorporation of adjacent disciplines with more emphasis on context and culture. Here it is still the case that few theoretical approaches from outside have been incorporated sufficiently into family business research, such as family science (James et al. 2012; Jaskiewicz et al. 2017, 2020), anthropology (Koellner 2023) or sociology (Kleve & Koellner 2019¸ Kushins & Behounek 2020). This is astonishing because the study of family business maintains that family ownership and operation distinguishes this business form from others, such as non-family corporations. Such an insistence necessitates the further specification of how the family matters. Family business research has attempted to clarify the influence of the family itself on business activities by developing concepts such as ‘familiness’ (Habbershon & Williams 1999) and entrepreneurial legacy (Jaskiewicz et al. 2015) or socio-emotional wealth (Gómez-Mejía et al. 2007). Nevertheless, the bulk of family business research implies that the nuclear or conjugal family is the main unit of analysis, thus abstracting from the role of broader kinship associations (Osnes 2011; Kushins & Behounek 2020).
Against this backdrop, we encourage interdisciplinary and intersectional contributions that allow for a better understanding of context and culture in business families and family business. Inter alia, we are interested in how different institutional arrangements, social norms, religious foundations, societal values, socio-political contexts, and forms of family cohesion influence business families, family businesses, and the relationships between them.
Therefore, the conference is a unique forum created for the world’s most distinguished scholars, engaged practitioners and influential consultants to come and converse about a better conceptualization of context and cultural differences in family businesses and business families. Exchanges on this topic give the extraordinary opportunity for creating profound and path-breaking new insights with global ramifications. As target groups for the conference, three different stakeholders have been identified:
The best academics, consultants in the family business domain, and business family owners across the world come together and converge an in-depth “Conversation”. By engaging different stakeholders into conversation, we aim to produce an “AND”. This means that through in-depth interactions we may create a fusion, a union – something that is made into one by a combination of many. For this, we envision merging diverse, distinct, or separate elements into a unified whole.
Although family business research has been developed in the USA, Japan, and Europe, the rich body of knowledge and wisdom on family-managed firms derives from different regions and settings. A vast number of scholars and practitioners have been involved in an iterative process of thinking and doing to contribute to growing and developing family business as a unique field. Nevertheless, the diverse and enormous wisdom of Asia, Africa, the Middle East and many other areas across the globe has not been documented and discussed to such an extent as from the western world. Therefore, we particularly encourage contributions from the ‘global South’ and invite them to participate in conversations on various possibilities of collaboration, learning, and interaction. For this, we invite you to submit abstracts and full papers.
In addition, we are offering 8 scholarships for particularly promising contributions. For the scholarship holders, the conference fee, accommodation, and catering during the conference will be covered.
Topics to be discussed include but are not restricted to the following:
Contact
Dr. Habil. Tobias Koellner – tobias.koellner@uni-wh.de
Dr Bhavani M – bhavani@fredindia.org
Literature
CEO of N Ranga Rao & Sons Pvt Ltd.
N Ranga Rao & Sons Pvt. Ltd. was established in 1948 by Shri. N. Ranga Rao in Mysuru. It is the manufacturer of Cycle Pure Agarbathi, India’s largest selling prayer brand. Managed by the third generation of the Ranga family today, the NR Group is a global conglomerate with a presence in over 75 countries. It has diversified into new business categories such as functional air care products, wellness and home fragrance products, floral extracts, solar irrigation systems, healthcare solutions, defence, aerospace and education.
Arjun completed his engineering from S J College of Engineering Mysuru and MBA from Thunderbird, USA. He worked in the US for a couple of years before joining the family business in 2000.
Under his leadership, the group has launched many innovations and initiatives that have become trendsetting for the industry. He is passionate about driving, transforming and scaling the business based on ethical, collaborative and value-based growth.
As the world’s largest incense manufacturer, the group is committed to providing hope for future generations by following ethical and sustainable business practices. Cycle Pure is the world’s first certified Zero Carbon Manufacturer of incense, prayer and air care products.
Arjun is President of the All India Agarbathi Manufacturers Association (AIAMA), Chairman of Karnataka State Council – CII and Chairman of Grassroots Research and Advocacy Movement (GRAAM).
Professor at American University of Sharjah (AUS)–United Arab Emirates
As part of a fourth-generation family-owned Argentinean firm, Dr. Rodrigo Basco has always been interested in the nuances of family businesses. He is currently a Professor at American University of Sharjah (AUS)–United Arab Emirates and holds the Sheikh Saoud bin Khalid bin Khalid Al-Qassimi Chair in Family Business. He is the Board Chairman of STEP Project Global Consortium and Associate Editor of Journal of Family Business Strategy. He is also visiting professor at IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca (Italy). His research focuses on entrepreneurship, management, and regional development with special interest in family firms, and he has taught economics, management, and family business courses at universities in Spain, Chile, and Germany. Dr. Rodrigo Basco was ranked as the World’s Top 2% most-cited scientists by Stanford University.
His research has been published in international academic journals, including Journal of Family Business Strategy, European Planning Studies, Family Business Review, European Management Journal, Journal of Management & Organization, Journal of Business research, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, Business Strategy and the Environment, Harvard Business Review, and International Small Business Journal, among others. Dr. Basco recently edited several special issue on the topics of “Family Business and Regional Development”, “Entrepreneurial Families in Business Across Generations, Contexts, and Cultures, and “Family Business, “Local development in Ibeoramerica”, and “Family Business in the Arab World”. He is an editorial board member for several leading journals.
He is author and co-editor of several books on family firms. Recently, he co-edited the academic book “Family Business and Regional Development” in the editorial house Routledge. He is also co-author of one the first Spanish textbooks on family firms for undergraduate and postgraduate students and general audience interested in the topic of family firms.
Before joining AUS, Dr. Basco was a postdoctoral scholar at the Witten Institute for Family Business at the University of Witten/Herdecke in Germany. He was also a visiting researcher at the University of Edinburgh (Scotland) and at CeFEO at Jonkoping University. He blogs actively about family business topics for a general audience on his Family Firm Blog.
Professor in the Marriott School of Business at Brigham Young University
W. Gibb Dyer (Ph.D MIT) is the O. Leslie and Dorothy Stone Professor in the Marriott School of Business at Brigham Young University. He has been a visiting faculty member at the University of New Hampshire and IESE in Barcelona, Spain and was a visiting scholar at the University of Bath in England. He has published 9 books and over 50 articles and his research has been featured in Fortune, The Wall Street Journal and Fast Company. His recent book, The Family Edge, focuses on how “family capital” supports business growth. In 2008 he was given the outstanding faculty award from the Marriott School. He has been ranked as one of the top ten scholars in the world in the field of family business. He and his wife Theresa have seven children and twenty grandchildren.
Shital Jayantilal has a PhD in Business Studies from Universidad de Extermadura (2016) and a degree in Economics from the Faculdade de Economia do Porto (1999).
She, currently, is the Head of the Department of Economics and Management at Portucalence University. She lectures undergraduate and graduates courses in Strategy and Strategic Management.
She is also a practitioner and an experienced Senior consultant, with more than 15 years of hands-on experience in aiding more than 50 SMEs and family firms, across diverse industries promoting their sustainability and enhancing trans-generational family business wealth.
Presently, she is a member of the research unit REMIT – Research on Economics, Management and Information Technologies, Porto. Her main topics of research are Main research interests: Family Firms; Strategy; and Game Theory and has been published in various international journals. Having been awarded the 2021- Schulze Publication award by Entrepreneurship and Innovation Exchange and Family Business editorial teams.
Founder of Family Business Centre, co-founder at IBERA, Director of Partner Engagement at Institute of One World Leadership, Associate Professor at University of Economics in Bratislava, a family business owner (2nd gen.).
She works as an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Commerce of the University of Economics in Bratislava, Slovakia. She is the founder of Family Business Centre at the University of Economics in Bratislava. She is co-founder of the Network of Top Business Leaders and Researchers in The International Business and Economic Research Academy (IBERA), the Director for Partner Engagement/International Advisory Council Member of the Institute of One World Leadership® and Advisory Council Member of Asiatech Education. She is appointed as an expert in the field of the family business in the Slovak Business Agency and a member of the working group at the Ministry of Economy of Slovakia.
In the field of pedagogical, scientific research and publishing she focuses on entrepreneurship issues. She is a guarantor of the subjects Family Business and Commercial Entrepreneurship and a co-guarantor of two study programmes at the University of Economics in Bratislava, an author or co-author of several scientific publications, university textbooks dealing with entrepreneurial environment and business (fast-growing enterprises, small and medium enterprises, women in business, business plans and family businesses). She lectures topics related to the business environment and entrepreneurship and actively cooperates on projects and research focused on the issues at scientific and professional conferences. She is a co-owner of the family-owned production company Novplasta Ltd (2nd gen.). She was cooperating with PWC Slovakia and KPMG Slovakia to elaborate research studies. In cooperation with the largest Slovak research agency Gfk Slovakia, she participated in implementing 3 strategic documents in the context of the Europe 2020 strategy. She is a co-researcher of several KEGA and VEGA research grants for the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport.
Founder of the Global Creative Industries Program at The University
of Hong Kong.
He obtained his Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from Oxford University in 1996. His research interest lies in the globalization of Japanese popular culture, anthropology of business, and cultural policies in East Asia. He conducts research in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, and Mainland China. He is the author of Japanese Bosses, Chinese Workers: Power and Control in a Hong Kong Megastore (Hawaii University Press and Curzon Press 1999). He is also the coauthor of Japanese Adult Videos in Taiwan (Routledge 2014), The Japanese Adult Videos Industry (Routledge 2017), Tradition and Transformation in a Chinese Family Business (Routledge 2020), Censorship in Japan (Routledge 2021), and various journal articles and chapters.
Complements the research at WIFU
PD Dr. Tobias Köllner complements the research at WIFU with his anthropological perspective on business families and family firms. Since 2020, he is heading a research project that examines the social, cultural and religious embeddedness of family firms and business families cross-culturally. Articles by PD Dr. Köllner have been published by Europe-Asia Studies; Journal of Religion, State and Society; Ethnography and Qualitative Social Research; Anthropology Today and others. From 2006 to 2009, PD Dr. Köllner worked as a PhD student at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle and completed his dissertation on the relation between businesspeople and Orthodox religion in contemporary Russia at the University of Leipzig in 2011. Subsequently, he conducted a research project that was funded by the German Research Foundation. This research forms the basis for his habilitation, which he finished in 2019.
Past Chairman CII Erode & Managing Director URC Constructions(P) Ltd
Mr C Mr C Devarajan, Past Chairman CII Erode & Managing Director URC Constructions(P) Ltd. believes in the philosophy “With ethics and values to be the foundation to the business, connecting the business with Education, Social and Spiritual needs would result in a better society”
He was born on 12th May 1961 in A.Anumanpalli village, near Erode to Shri.U.R.Chinnusamy and Smt. C. Thulasiammal into a respected family with strong traditional and spiritual background.
He has around 37 years of experience in the field of Construction and Infrastructur Development. He was responsible for steering URC to greater heights and later diversified the business into Real Estate, Software, Sustainable Textiles, and Agriculture. The 65-year-old URC Business now helps around 10,000 families through direct and indirect employment.
Mr Devarajan has established ‘URC Gurukulam’, a Skill Development School for Construction Workers which led to the formation of a new initiative ‘Labour Home’ as a separate entity. He is one of the Syndicate Member of Annamalai University, Tamilnadu. He is one of the Board of Directors of ILCE, an initiative for the Efficiency Improvement and Production Enhancement of the Construction and Infrastructure activities. He is the Co-Founder and Vice-Chairman of Texvalley, Erode and Prathinithi at Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust Institute, Erode. He is one of the founding members and Vice Chairman of Olirum Erode Foundation, Erode.
Mr Devarajan is a social worker contributing towards the upliftment of youngsters in the field of education through URC Palaniammal Matriculation School and Kongu Engineering College. He also actively and dedicatedly supports many temple renovations, make contributions to old-age homes and orphanages, and provide medical and educational aid to poor children.
Managing Partner of Venbro Polymers
He is currently the Managing Partner of Venbro Polymers. His business acumen follows the footsteps of his father’s philosophy. CD. Kumar works on Marketing and Sales, Production, New Product Development, Research and Development areas on a regular perspective.
On completion of his graduation in Mechanical and Production Engineering from Annamalai University, His father, Late Shri C Doraisamy, has fostered values of education, in having him travel to Wayne State University (WSU), Detroit, Michigan, where he pursued his Masters Degree in Industrial Engineering, followed by Masters in Business Administration (MBA). It was then that CD.Kumar took up a Teaching Assistant position in the Department of Industrial Engineering, WSU, handling Probability and Statistics. Later, he discharged the role of a Research Assistant during his MBA program. While in the MBA program, the sudden demise of his father compelled him to take up the family businesses.
CD.Kumar has been involved in Edible Oil Processing of the group, under the guidance of his uncle, Shri.C.Krishnan, since 1987. By 1993, he moved over to manage the group’s Sri Krishna Automobile Enterprises, functioning as a Maruti Authorized Service Station (MASS). Under his leadership, the facility was adjudged as the Biggest MASS for the year 1994.
In 1989, CD.Kumar oversaw the creation and donation of the C.D Memorial Library at Kongu Engineering College, Erode, as part of the group’s vision of ‘Education for All’. He has functioned as the Correspondent of Kongu Engineering College, Treasurer of Kongu Vellalar Institution of Technology Trust (KVITT) and Secretary of KVITT. He has lead the establishment of Kongu Arts and Science College, Kongu Industrial Training Centre and Kongu National Matriculatio School.
In 2003, CD.Kumar saw the establishment of the country’s FIRST Technology Business Incubator (TBI), with the support and guidance of Department of Science and Technology of Government of India. CD.Kumar functioned as its Founder Chairman, only to see it being recognized in 2014, as the Best TBI in India, by the President of India, His Excellency Sri Pranab Mukherjee.
In 2007, CD.Kumar was the Founder Vice-Chairman of CII Erode District and scaled up membership to see it upgraded as a Zonal office, at par with Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai and Trichy. He was the Chairman of CII Erode Zone for the years 2009-’10.
Since 2012, CD.Kumar is the Vice-Chairman of the philanthropic pursuit in Ulavan Producers Company Limited (UPCL), an organization owned by primary producers to maximize revenue and minimize cost of production for the farmers – Making Agriculture a Sustainable Proposition.
He is also a Trustee of Olirum Erodu Foundation (OEF), an outreach project and functions as its Vice-Chairman, in addition to being the Convenor of the Environment Panel. OEF is a philanthropic pursuit of the Erode brothers consisting of 54 trustees and a non- governmental organization working on five verticals namely, Water Management, Environment Enhancement, Infrastructure Improvement, Holistic Education and Affordable Healthcare.
CD.Kumar is the Chairman of Madras Management Association – Erode. He is a Vice President of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), Coimbatore chapter, an organization that promotes budding entrepreneurs.
He is also the Life member of Native Angel Network, which supports entrepreneurs in growing innovative business ideas into viable business propositions.
Managing Director WIFU / CEO WIFU
Managing Director WIFU / CEO WIFU – Foundation, Born 1974, managing director of the Witten Institute for Family Business (WIFU) at the Witten / Herdecke University. He also directs the non-profit WIFU Foundation as an executive chairman. After completing a degree in economics at the Witten / Herdecke University, he spent several years working for the inhouse consultancy of a large multinational industrial corporation, and for restructuring and recovery consultancies. He has been honorary professor at the economics faculty of the Witten / Herdecke University since 2015, and a visiting professor at Lucerne University since 2017. The main areas of his research, teaching and publication include the examination of conflict and crisis dynamics, structural risks in family businesses, mental models in business families, and family strategies and their evolution over generations. In his coaching and consultancy work, he assists family businesses and business families in developing practical solutions as part of succession processes, conflict and crisis situations, and the development of family strategies and family management systems.
M.Sc (Statistics), MBA
Prof. P Renukadevi is a Post-Graduate in Statistics and Management. She hasa total experience of 5 years, of which 3 years are in teaching and research. She is currently pursuing Chartered Accountancy Program. Prof. Renukadevi is SLET and UGC NET qualified. Her areas of specialisation include Quantitative Methods, Operations Research, Security Analysis & Portfolio Management, and Strategic Financial Management.
PGDOR, M.Sc (Statistics), M.Phil, MBA, PhD (Statistics), PhD (Management)
Dr. R Palaniswamy comes with rich experience more than 43 years in teaching students and executives. He has worked as Professor with Jansons School of Management, Coimbatore and PSG School of Arts and Science, Coimbatore. He holds two PhD qualifications in Statistics and Management field from Bharathiar University. Dr. Palaniswamy holds five master degrees to his credit – MSc, MPhil, MBA, PGDOR and PGD in Six Sigma. He has presented high quality research papers in national and international conferences. His papers are published in high impact international journals. He is an active resource person for various workshops on Research Methods, Data Analysis, Statistics and Operations Research.
M.Soc.Sc (Psychology)
Prof. Willie Marais is an expert consultant in Industrial Psychology and founder and owner of OrgDev, a Cape Town, South Africa based Organisational Development Consultancy and I/O Psychology Practice. He is graduated in M.Soc.Sc. from Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa. He is a member of the International Organisation Development Network, South African Assessment Centre Study Group, Psychological Society of South Africa, Society for Industrial and Organisational Psychology, South Africa. In his learned career, he has held positions of Former Vice-Chairman of the Western Cape Society of Industrial Psychologists, Former Executive Member of the IPM Western Cape, Past Chairperson of the South African Assessment Centre Group and Guest lecturer and external examiner at postgraduate level at several Universities in South Africa. He has also addressed international conferences held at Italy, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Belgium, India, USA, Thailand, and several professional conferences in South Africa.
M.Sc. (Occupational Psychology)
Noble is a psychologist with a post-graduate specialization as an Organization Development (OD) Consultant. He divides his time between Africa, the USA, and Europe, undertaking relevant organizational Development (OD) & Management Development Consultancy, Training and Research assignments, or strengthening the capacity of local consultants to do so. In addition to this active consultancy and training responsibilities, he is the Chief Executive of OCIC International. He is also the Coordinator of the OCIC-UCC OD Consultancy Skills Training Programme.
M.Sc (Economics), Ph.D
Dr. Swarnalakshmi Umamaheshwaran holds an M.Sc in Economics and Quantitative techniques (Avinashilingam Deemed University) and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. (TERI School of Advanced Studies). Swarna has over 13 years of experience across industry and research. She has worked as a consultant in MNCs such as Amex, GE, Genpact and Scholastic Inc, and TERI, New Delhi. In her role as a consultant, she specialized in building a data-driven business strategy using descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytics. She is currently a professor in Business analytics at the International School of Management Excellence and excels in a wide variety of analytical tools such as Excel, SAS, SPSS, Python, R, and Tableau. Swarna has delivered workshops in analytical tools such as SPSS, R & Python. During her tenure as faculty, she has also taken courses and workshops on Machine Learning and AI. She is well-published in national and international journals. Recently she has presented her research work in IIM-Bangalore Conference. Swarna is passionate about data science, analytics, and problem-solving. She believes that analytics and research is for anybody with logical reasoning and a natural curiosity about the world. As analytics and research faculty and trainer, her approach is to deliver analytics education in a simple and approachable way.
PGDBA, M.Com, CAIIB Program Director
Mr. Kiran Kumar K V holds master graduation in commerce and also in business management. He has attended various workshops and FDPs, especially in the areas of learning analytical tools like MS-Excel and R, including a weeklong workshop at NIT, Calicut. He has also conducted workshops on Research Methods, MS-Excel, R, and Business Analytics for corporate, academicians, and students. He has a total experience of 15 years in corporate, teaching, research, and consulting. His research areas include corporate finance practices, capital market analytics, behavioural finance, and consumer behaviour studies. He has published more than 6 research papers in national and international journals including one in a Scopus indexed journal.
M.Com, M.Phil, PhD
Dr. Bhavani M has M. Com, M.Phil., and Ph.D. in Commerce. She is a Post Doc Research Fellow of the Witten Institute for Family Businesses (WIFU), Witten, Germany. The Focus of her research is on the internal working of the business family and analyses the role of women in the family business – a cross-cultural and comparative perspective of India and Germany. She is also a Research Associate of the Foundation for Research, Education, and Development (FRED).
She has 15 years of teaching and ten years of research experience. Her research areas are Human Resource Development and Entrepreneurship. She submitted her research report on “Problems and Challenges of Women Entrepreneurs in Mysore District” with funding from the University Grant Commission (UGC). She presented her research paper at the International Family Business Enterprise Research Academy (IFERA) conference in 2022, Spain. She has presented and received the Best Paper Award for the article entitled “An empirical study on Traits of Women Entrepreneurs.” at the international conference organized by Jain (Deemed -to-be-University), India.
She got her Life membership in Indian Council for Business Education (ICBE), Annual membership of the International Family Business Enterprise Research Academy (IFERA). She is also a Guest Editor of 3D… IBA Journal of Management and Leadership, July-Dec 2021 Volume 13 – Issue 1, on the theme “Women in Focus: Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Advantages.” She is also a chief editor of an edited Book on “Crisis in the Indian Banking Sector-Issues and Concerns” She has published research articles in various national and international journals.
MA, M.Phil, PhD Managing Trustee
Mohanakrishnan Raman (Mohan) is an Industrial & Organizational Psychologist (IOP) with Ph. D qualification. He has 25 years of wide-ranging experience in research, teaching, consulting, institution building projects and enjoys deep corporate exposure. He is passionate to contribute to higher education in Family Business, Management, Social Sciences and Organization Development Subjects.
He is currently holding positions as
• Managing Director – Stepup Strategic Consulting Services Pvt Ltd (India)
• Managing Trustee – Foundation for Research, Education and Development (FRED)
He was a Professor and Head of HRD and OD department from SDM – IMD, Mysore from 2003 until 2008. He started an Educational Trust called Foundation for Research, Education and Development (FRED), to offer courses on Social & Behavioural Sciences including OD, OB and Leadership. He had worked in Telecom, IT and Banking sectors. His corporate consulting areas are Family Business, OD Consulting, Innovation, Coaching and Organization Strategy. Training and Development being his forte, he has enormous interest in OD, and behavioural science- based training and interventions. He had done Competency Mapping through the Development Centre process for more than 1500 managers in a large private bank, as a part of a major change management project in India. His strategy and OD consulting assignments include organizations in Construction, FMCG, Manufacturing, Education, Banking and IT sectors. He has been an invited speaker in various forums like CII, NIPM, IFTDO, ATDO, ISODC and IODA.
He has done more than 250 development workshops for various clients. He also has designed and offered open programs in the areas of Talent Management, Performance & Career Management Systems & Process and Personal Transformation Clinic to say a few. He was instrumental and offered leadership in organizing Global Organization Development Summit (GODS) in the year 2006, and as a result he was instrumental in Founding Asia OD Network (AODN), along with other notable OD leaders. He was also a Founder President of AODN for three years from 2007 to 2009. He had spearheaded and offered his leadership to the GODS in China in 2007 and 2008 in Thailand. Under his leadership GODS was organized again in 2009 and 2016 in India.
He has written a book on “Family Business – Methods and Essentials of Building Business Families”. He has published a paper in the well reputed European journal “Challenging Organizations and Society” 2014, Volume 3, Issue 2, titled “The Caste System in India – its Power in Organizations and Politics”. He also contributed articles / chapters in edited books.
He had served as the Vice President – Conferences and Events (2016-19) for International Organization Development Association (IODA). He served as an Executive Board Member of IODA since 2007 to help the conference organizing teams in IODA across the world.
He was consultant with Integrated Consulting Group (ICG) Austria and involved in
“Innovation Boot Camp” creating an innovation culture at the various ministerial departments of the countries of Finland and Estonia. He was invited to give a motivational and directional speech in the area of “Smart Specialization” (Innovation project) for the Government of Slovenia.
He was a visiting professor at the School of Psychology in Zurich University of Applied Science (ZHAW), Switzerland for the last few years from 2015. He is recognized as an Erasmus Professor to teach in Slovenia by the Education Ministry of Education, Slovenia. He has guided, coached and mentored many European Business Consultants and Executives. He has also delivered keynote speeches and workshops in China. His specialization in coaching is cross-national consonance.
His other interests are Travel, Wildlife and Environment Conservation. He was a Dean – Academics & OD for a large Educational institution in Mysore, India from 2016-2018. He is a Charter Member of TiE Mysore Chapter
Dr Mohanakrishnan Raman
+91 94483 66589
Mohan@stepupconsulting.in
Managing Director of Thangamayil Jewellery limited
Mr Ba Ramesh believes that everyone has potential to be amazing…and that a healthy culture can inspire people to be at their best. He helps employees and other association members not to get ‘unstuck’ and accelerate toward high performance. His elegance is to create clarity and alignment to a worthy mission, and united efforts toward positive results.
Mr Ba Ramesh is the joint managing Director of Thangamayil Jewellery limited. When the rest of South India was working on the concept of comparative pricing, he formulated and successfully implemented the game changing concept of competitive pricing. His extensive travel helped him understand various cultures and people and that has been instrumental in shaping his unique style of customizations.
Thangamayil Jewellery Limited is positioned in the market as a chain of retail jewellery stores across several districts in Tamil Nadu. From the time of its inception in 2000 as Thangamayil Jewellery Private Limited, the company grew exponentially to turn out as a public limited company in 2007 and the first jewellery company to list its shares in stock exchanges in the year 2010. Today, the company boasts a total operating area of approx. 78,000 square feet, across all its 53 showrooms. Mr. Ba Ramesh is also a major dignitary in some important councils as Zonal committee member – All Indian Gems & Jewellery domestic council, Director – Indian bullion merchants association, Vice-President – Tamilnadu Chambers of Commerce & Industry, President – Madurai district diamond, gold and silver Jeweller’s Merchant association.
The Madurai district jeweller’s merchant association has been functioning for the past 22 Years in an excellent manner. 300 Companies are associated as members. As a President his imminent wish to convert the jewellery business into organized sector to the extent possible and in this regard he has been organizing lots of conventions / seminars to educate and propagate the advantages of the industry turning vibrant as an organized serving sector.
Economic lenses and Family Business
By Priyatej Kotipalli PhD (Erasmus University)
Head: Center for Indian Family Business: Kumaraguru Institutions
The academic conversations in the discipline of family business research are varied and many. They comprise issues that arise from two areas. First is about the context in which families operate and this manifests in the articulation of values, purposes, and cultural and social framings, institutionalized, and transmitted through generations. The second is about how family-owned enterprises deal with and operate their firms in dynamic business environments and the challenges that accompany the interplay of family ownership and the practical realities of running a business. In these conversations, the economic lenses that are used to study choices and outcomes are neo- classical in their framing. Here the most important goods that are produced for a viable enterprise are private in nature and the realization of financial values is an indicator of performance.
When we look deeper at how families take their business decisions, they are moored at one end in values, and sense of purpose. It’s a family legacy that needs to be preserved and passed on to the next generation which is transmitted and renewed by the co-creation of shared goods and commons. On the other end is the realization of financial values and profit. Conflict arises when the realization of financial values comes at the cost of the shared and common values of the family. In most family own enterprises there exists this tension and conflict between these contrasting values. However, given the dominance of neo-classical economics, financial values trump all other values as we cannot motivate or articulate the importance of other values that help in the cocreation of shared goods and commons. It’s in this context that we introduce the value-based approach to economics as a set of new economic lenses that will help talk about these values which are otherwise seen as soft. The paper will explore the limitations of neo-classical economics in uncovering and articulating shared and common goods that family-owned enterprises produce. It will further point out the significance of these in the decision-making process.
Full Professor and Academic Director
Heiko Kleve is Full Professor and Academic Director at the Witten Institute for Family Business and, together with his team, analyzes the business family, especially from a sociological and socio-psychological perspective. He also advises business families on succession issues, family strategy and psycho-social issues.
Group Managing Director
Chairman of Centre for Developmental Education and the President of Vijay Bhoomi University, India.
An Electronics engineer from BITS – Pilani. Mr. Padodefounded Dataline and Research Technologies Ltd to launch for the very first time nationwide online and email service viz India Online in 1989. This service was the Indian avatar of the Internet. He set up his second venture in 2006, Asian CERC for providing real time financial information and online trading platforms. He exited this venture in 2006.
After serving 22 years in financial technologies and information technology committed himself to education for nurturing holistic, socially responsible and continuously employable professionals. He co-founded the Center for Developmental Education, a not for profit society which runs the Jagadish Sheth School of Management (formerly known as IFIM Business School), IFIM College and IFIM Law School. JAGSOM became the sixth business school in the country to be awarded the coveted AACSB accreditation and its specialized masters programs have been ranked globally at 51+ and 101+ in the marketing and finance category respectively by QS in 2020. Sanjay Padode founded India’s first Liberal Professional University, Vijaybhoomi University at Karjat in the Greater Mumbai Region in 2018. He continues to be the Chairman of CDE and the President of Vijaybhoomi University.
Co-Founder & Executive Director – Malabar Gold & Diamonds
Chairman – Cosmos Sports LLP
Chairman – Cosmos Sports Academy
An inspiring entrepreneur with over thirty five years of businessexperience, Nishad AK is best known for his insight to businessstrategy, marketing, guidance to aspiring entrepreneurs andbusinessmen. He is a renowned mentor with excellent businessacumen.
He holds prominent positions in some of the popular and high performance organizations in India and overseas such as Malabar Group, parent company of Malabar Gold & Diamonds. In addition to being one of the Founder Directors of the Malabar Group, he is also the Chairman of Cosmos Sports and Cosmos Sports Academy. His contributions have significantly benefited society, business corporations and individuals.
In addition, his philanthropic activities and commitment towards society to support the unprivileged and the marginalized are an integral part of his core values.
Managing Director of Pratt & Smith Enterprises Private Limited
Pratima Sanjay Kirloskar is currently associated with Pratt & Smith Enterprises Private Limited appointed as Managing Director. Pratima Kirloskar is also a part of the Kirloskar Brothers Ltd and is associated with a number of NGOs.