The opportunity to continue the family business as the next generation is an amazing opportunity. Especially when there are good relationships within the family and open communication is the norm. However, succession is not as straightforward as it might seem at first glance. Even Kristýna Schönová from the family business—the advertising agency EuroAgency—was unsure which […]
How Social Connections and Trust Influence Product Development in SMEs A new study published in the prestigious international scientific journal Entrepreneurship & Regional Development (Q1) provides insight into a longstanding question: Do strong family ties within ownership groups support innovation, or do they encourage inward-looking behavior that holds innovation back? The study, Enhancing product innovativeness […]
On Thursday and Friday, April 3 and 4, 2025, the Centre for Family Business (CRF) organized a trip to Linz and Vienna for its community of Czech family business owners and successors. Our goal was to gain experience from foreign family companies on preparing for the family business handover, succession, intergenerational conflict, family constitution and […]
After one year, the Centre for Family Business (CFB) once again welcomed students and teachers from foreign universities for an educational programme on the topic of strategy in family businesses. The Czech students of the NextGen Consulting minor specialization joined students from Slovakia, Slovenia and Croatia for an intensive teaching week at VŠE from 7 […]
Topics crucial for family businesses such as succession, handing over the company to the next generation, family constitution and others can be studied at the Prague University of Economics and Business (VŠE) as part of the NextGen Consulting minor specialization. The course Strategy in Family Businesses is regularly taught by the Academic Director of the […]
Mgr. Karolina Kania, Ph.D. is an anthropologist and assistant professor at the Department of Strategy, Faculty of Business Administration, Prague University of Economics and Business. She also works as a researcher at the Centre for Family Business at the Prague University of Economics and Business. In November 2021 she defended her doctoral dissertation in social […]
On 27 June, meeting of the community of Czech family businesses took place. At the invitation of Mr. Pavel Vranek from the family company RENOCAR, a.s., the members of the CRF Strategic Council met this time in the BMW Museum in Brno. The BMW Museum was built by the Vranek family thanks to their passion […]
On Thursday 18 April, the Centre for Family Business organised a two-day trip to Bavaria in Germany. During the trip, which was attended by representatives of the CRF community together with Jiří Hnilica and Martin Jurek from CRF, we visited two family businesses with a long tradition: SCHLENK, founded in 1879, and Brauhaus Riegele, one […]
A family business older than the French Revolution. Founded in 1768 near Lyon by brothers Joseph-Marie and François Revol. Their successors have passed on the tradition of porcelain production to this day. The current CEO and representative of the 9th generation, Olivier Passot, came to Prague to talk about the current operation of the 255-year-old […]