Facts on Exit Planning
- Almost 50% have no plan to transfer ownership, management and control, and the percentage is even higher for companies that have been in business for less than 20 years
- Nearly 60% of closely held companies have failed to gauge the potential tax exposure upon a transfer of ownership
- 25% are due to change hands within the next 5 years
- About 90% of owners of closely held companies would like to transfer ownership, management and control of their companies to family or non-family key employees. Less than 50% manage to do so
- Only 33% have defined criteria for hiring and promoting family members who want to take an active role in the business
- Over 33% of closely held companies have no procedures in place for dealing with disputes between family member owners
1The statistics provided above have been derived from a variety of surveys of closely held business owners including: the PricewaterhouseCoopers 2007-2008 survey of nearly 1,500 closely held companies; the 2007 survey of 800 closely held businesses by the University of Connecticut School of Business Administration Survey; and the 2003 Arthur Andersen/Mass Mutual American Family Business Survey.
| Michael P. Ford, Ph.D. - West |
 |
 |
 |
 Michael is president and founder of M. P. Ford & Associates, established in 2008 as a Franchise Partner of Leadership Management, Inc. (LMI) in San Francisco, CA. His firm serves small to medium-size organizations in the private, non-profit and public sectors in the Bay Area and throughout Northern California. After starting with LMI on the client-side of the table in 1998, Michael is committed to using the proven LMI process to deliver bottom line results for all of his clients. A student of workplace learning and performance for more than 20 years, Michael's doctoral research is based on a three-year stint he spent being trained and groomed to take over his family's business, a commercial transportation dealership with four locations, 225 employees and $65 million in annual sales. His research seeks to understand the dynamics of mature, often family-owned organizations that are not only charged with realizing their current potential but also with nurturing the next generation and exploiting opportunities for innovation and effective development. As a result, Michael is uniquely qualified to help clients with legacy and exit planning. Originally from Minnesota and with experience living and working in Chile, Japan, South Africa and Iran, Michael now lives with his wife and their three children in Oakland, CA. Email:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
|