Morten Bennedsen

The Sackler family and their 100%-owned company, Purdue Pharma, produced OxyContin pills by the millions, amassing a vast family fortune in the process. Those painkillers were responsible for a devastating opioid epidemic in the United States. For a business family, the “Oxy-Sacklers” are distinguished by their greed and lack of moral compass.

Published 11 Dec 2023

Reference 6849

Topic Family Business

Industry Pharmaceuticals Law Practice

Region North America

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Founded in 578 AD, Kongo Gumi was a family-owned business until 2006, when the firm went into liquidation to pay its creditors. While its demise is briefly covered, the case study is focused on its longevity. A renowned builder of traditional temples, in a country where these are major tourist attractions, Kongo Gumi has left an indelible mark on Japanese culture and history.

Published 18 Sep 2023

Reference 6833

Topic Family Business

Industry Real Estate Construction

Region Asia

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The case is about the Hoshi Ryokan, a hot springs hotel in Japan established more than 1,300 years ago, that is among the world’s oldest family enterprises. Owned and managed by a descendant (or adopted son) of the founder for 46 generations, it is a popular with domestic and international tourists alike.

Published 06 Jul 2023

Reference 6831

Topic Family Business

Industry Leisure, Travel and Tourism

Region Asia

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The case is about Birkenstock, the renowned German shoemaker, and two turning points in its 248-year history: the owner’s decision to bring in a professional CEO in 2012, and the sale of a majority stake to a French-American investment firm in 2021.

Published 19 May 2023

Reference 6814

Topic Family Business

Industry Textiles

Region Global

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The case study is about the Japanese carmaker Suzuki. The 100-year company was founded at the peak of Japan’s silk-production industry in the early 20th century. Michio Suzuki (1887-1982), a gifted inventor, started tinkering with weaving looms and in 1920 founded the Suzuki Loom Manufacturing Company in the coastal village of Hamamatsu.

Published 19 Oct 2022

Reference 6765

Topic Family Business

Region Global

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The case is an example of how a family can control a large conglomerate – TECO Electric & Machinery, a Taiwanese engineering business – yet with almost no ownership stake.

Published 18 Oct 2022

Reference 6766

Topic Family Business

Region Asia

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The case covers the ongoing Wang family dispute over the inheritance of YC Wang, the billionaire founder of Formosa Plastics Group, one of Taiwan’s most prominent industrial conglomerates, who died in 2008 at the age of 91 without leaving a will.

Published 06 Oct 2021

Reference 6613

Topic Family Business

Industry Chemicals

Region Global

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On 30 August 2016, Margrethe Vestager, the European Commissioner for Competition, ordered Ireland to recover €13 billion in illegal state aid (plus interest) that Ireland was alleged to have granted Apple over a decade from 2003.

Published 11 Mar 2021

Reference 6664

Topic Economics & Finance

Region Europe

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The case covers the ongoing Wang family dispute over the inheritance of YC Wang, the billionaire founder of Formosa Plastics Group, one of Taiwan’s most prominent industrial conglomerates, who died in 2008 at the age of 91 without leaving a will.

Published 19 Feb 2021

Reference 6613

Topic Family Business

Industry Chemicals

Region Global

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This is a collection of 40 profiles of long-lived family firms representing all but eight members of the Hénokiens, a French association whose 48 members have survived for more than two centuries. Of the 40 members featured in this collection, the oldest is a hostel in Japan named Hoshi Ryokan, which has been in business for 1,300 years and has been operated by same family for 46 generations.

Published 27 May 2019

Reference 6503

Topic Family Business

Region Global

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The Governance of Family Firms, Corporate Governance, Private Equity, Privatisation, Lobbyism and Corruption, Contract Theory