Family
Volume 2 Issue 2
Family Enterprise Center A learning community ser ving the needs of the family in business. Dave Rober tson Director
Phone:
(479) 788-7931
E-mail:
dave.robertson@uafs.edu
Website:
uafs.edu/cob/fec
Matters Quarterly Newsletter of the FEC
Need for Innovation in Family Business Family businesses have to face many challenges in order to survive and prosper over multiple generations. At the Family Enterprise Center we try to address these issues with programs on leadership and ownership succession as well as on communication and conflict. But there is another huge challenge common to all businesses that can be especially problematic in a family business: innovation and change.
Kevin, Alan, and Joe Dickinson from Preferred Office Products
Just about any industry or product has a natural life cycle that requires business owners to adapt and utilize different management and marketing approaches as time goes by. The common product life cycle stages are introduction, growth, maturation, and decline. In order for a business to survive and prosper over multiple generations, it is crucial that a family business be aware of this life cycle and plan and adapt accordingly.
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Joe Dickinson and his two sons, Alan and Kevin, are embracing the challenge of change together at Preferred Office Products, a family business in its third generation. Realizing that changes in office machine technology are occurring at an ever-increasing rate, Joe and his sons are working on a strategic plan that will guide the business in the future by identifying new threats as well as new opportunities in their industry.
Location:
“The changes in our industry have been remarkable over the last ten years with the advent of digital technology. The industry today is nothing like the days when my father started this business, and the future that my sons will have to deal with will be totally different. As companies integrate copying with digital imaging, transfer, and storage, the way we interact with our customers will have to change as our machinery becomes a bigger and even more crucial piece of their operations,” Joe recently stated.
Family Enterprise Center UAFS 5210 Grand Avenue PO Box 3649 Fort Smith, AR 72913-3649
Business and Industrial Institute Room 200A UAFS College of Business Corner of North 50th Street and Grand Avenue Fort Smith, AR
The mission of the Family Enterprise Center is to be an educational and informational resource center for family and closely held businesses. We want to develop long-term relationships that support transgenerational leadership and wealth creation in families.
“My sons and I are working together to identify new opportunities for our business and making sure we remain a viable player in this industry by embracing this change and establishing ourselves in the digital imaging and storage market. The strategic planning process we initiated has helped not only to guide us through this process, but it has also helped to instill in my sons the importance of creating a vision for the future of our company.”