FAMILY BUSINESS CASE
“Nothing Written in Stone”
By Dr. Greg McCann and Ms. Jill Perry
The Stone family owns 100 percent of the Stone Family Hotel (located in Orlando, Florida). Family members are as follows:
Tom Stone: Tom is 58 years old, the president and founder of the company and has a high school education with two years of college. His parents had run a small hotel in Pennsylvania for years and Tom had grown up in the business. Tom owns 70% of the stock. Tom is hard working, quiet, very pragmatic and task oriented.
Allison Stone: Allison is 57 and has married to Tom since she was 20. She had worked full-time in the business for 10 years until Deana was born. She occasionally helps out with special events or the year-end bookkeeping and inventory. Allison has a master's degree in history. She owns 30% of the stock. Allison is very high energy, helps Tom with much of the social aspects of his career and family, but sometimes has trouble both prioritizing and being practical.
Deana Stone: Allison and Tom’s daughter, Deana is 27 with a business-finance degree as well as an MBA. She has worked for the past two years with the Hilton Hotel in Atlanta as an assistant manager. Her hope is to step in as the manager of the Stone Family hotel. Deana is quiet but very hard working and intelligent.
Skip Stone: Allison and Tom’s son, Skip is 22 years old and, after five years at Florida State University is graduating with a degree in general business. Skip has worked the last two summers at the hotel and has undertaken various jobs including sales. Though his grades weren’t too strong, he is a born salesperson. He would like to come in as the head of sales for the hotel. Skip is more prone to get by on charm and wit than actual substance.
The Stone Family Hotel has been in business for 37 years. It is always been successful and has profited greatly by the growth of Orlando during this time. Its focus has been on personal service, repeat business, and by being small and personal. (Amazingly, even the downturn since 9/11 has barely impacted occupancy at the hotel.) In terms of staffing, the Hotel Manager and Head of Sales positions are both likely to be open in the next five years due to turnover, retirement, and career opportunities. Tom works very hard, probably 50-70 hours a week. He would like to start to slow down (by turning over daily operations to the Manager), spend more time with Allison (they both love to travel and golf), and hopefully pass the business on to his children.
Allison worries about Tom's health and has grown to resent how much time and energy he devotes to the business. She would like to see Tom retire as soon as practical, though she is a tad concerned about exactly what he wants to do after retirement. She thinks Deana would make a great successor and feels that Skip probably needs more time to mature and round out the rough edges of his personality. She has called a family meeting on a Sunday afternoon. Though she knows Skip and Deana would like to be in the business the family has never talked as a group about the future plans of the business.
CONSIDER
1. PREPARATION: What do you think the two people in your generation are most concerned about?
2. THE MEETING AGENDA:
A. Could everyone talk about their plans for the next five years specifically how it relates to the business?
3. GROUP PROCESSING: How should this family begin to discuss the best way to consider bringing in family members? What are the family concerns? What are the individual concerns? What are the business (and ownership) concerns?
4. GROUP PROCESSING: How can differing personalities, ages/life stages, and even gender give us some insight as to how people are different and how this can create strength in the family and the business?
Remember two positions are going to open up in the next 5 years (Hotel Manager and Head of Sales).