Students praise the family business courses as the most valuable of their school careers. The family business coursework synthesizes learning from other core subjects with practices that are common to successful family businesses.
Each year, the Family Enterprise Center teaches and advises approximately 60 students from all over the world. Past years' courses have included students from Bahrain, Brazil, Chile, China, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Venezuela, and the United States.
The Center offers two foundational Family Business courses to MBAs, undergraduate business students, MACs, and select UNC undergraduate students with family business interests:
Family Business I: Introduction to Family Enterprise
Mod 3, Wednesdays, 2:00-4:45 p.m.
The purpose of this course is to prepare students to be more effective in their own family enterprise (as an employee and/ or as an owner), as a non-family executive in a family business, or as an advisor to a family business.
Students will examine their own family enterprises through the lens of family history and values, as well as through the lens of business strategy. Students will benefit from observing live case studies of successful family businesses, hearing lectures by multiple family business experts, and interacting with other next generation family business leaders.
This course provides an understanding of the evolutionary stages in the life of a family business and the challenges and opportunities that must be managed at each stage. Topics covered include:
- Family Systems, Relationships, and Communication
- Entrepreneurship and Growing the Family Business
- Ownership & Stewardship
- Succession
- Strategy
- Professionalizing the Family Business
- Non-Family Management
Family Business II: Governance & Ownership*
Mod 4, Wednesdays, 2:00-4:45 p.m.
This course outlines the specific ownership, stewardship, tax, transition and wealth management issues that affect family enterprises.
Topics covered include:
- Governance
- Financial Considerations and Valuation
- Transfer, Estate, and Gift Tax Planning
- Family Offices, Wealth Management and Philanthropy
*Family Business I: Introduction to Family Enterprise is highly recommended as a prerequisite.
MBA students can elect to pursue an MBA Family Enterprise Focus.