Tango, Mambo, Salsa... ¿Cuál es el ritmo de la Empresa Familiar en Latinoamérica?

Exaudi Research (www.exaudionline.com), junto a destacadas instituciones académicas, asociaciones de empresarios y despachos de consultores de diferentes países latinoamericanos, lideró un estudio sobre unos 750 negocios familiares en Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, México, Perú, Uruguay y Venezuela, cuyo principal objetivo fue determinar sus características demográficas y las principales incidencias del entorno en la toma de decisiones gerenciales y estratégicas de las empresas familiares de la región.

Como resultados generales encontramos que el 85,20% de las empresas de propiedad privada en Latinoamérica se define como una empresa familiar. En promedio, son empresas fundadas durante los últimas dos décadas, tienen entre 11 y 50 empleados, con ventas anuales brutas de unos US$ 3,000,000.00. Sólo un 12,38% de las empresas generan más de US$ 23,000,000.00 de ventas anuales.

Plan de Sucesión

En Latinoamérica las empresas se encuentran en un 47,28% en manos de la primera generación de los fundadores. Un 28,82% están dirigidas por la segunda generación (sociedades de hermanos en su mayoría), y en un 14, 17% de los casos conviven en la dirección de la empresa ambas generaciones. Sólo 9,73% está en manos de terceras o cuartas generaciones (etapas del tipo de consorcios de primos). El 72,73% admiten no tener un plan para la sucesión de la empresa en manos de la familia, en contraste con un escaso 8,93% que dice tenerlo funcionando. El restante 18,34% lo está creando o lo tiene pero no funciona. En general, las empresas estudiadas carecen de una política definida que transfiera al sucesor los conocimientos y habilidades necesarios para hacer perdurar la organización hacia la siguiente generación.

Consejo de Familia y Protocolo Familiar

El Consejo de Familia es el órgano por excelencia que permite regular las relaciones entre el grupo familiar y la empresa. En Latinoamérica, el 70,70% de las empresas familiares manifiestan no tenerlo constituido. Por otra parte, la adopción del Protocolo Familiar (un documento para societario que recoge las reglas de la relación de la familia con sus empresas y patrimonio), es una práctica típica de las empresas familiares latinoamericanas, ya que en esta región se necesitan generar acuerdos por escrito, dada la alta tasa de incumplimiento de los acuerdos verbales. El 74,01% de las empresas encuestadas no ha establecido formalmente un Protocolo Familia, a lo que se le pueden sumar los casos de aquellos que manifiestan tenerlo (7,24%), pero que no funciona adecuadamente.

Estudio del entorno y la Situación País

En base al estudio de las variables sociales, políticas y económicas que inciden sobre las empresas y sus familias en cada país estas condiciones, creamos una propuesta clasificatoria de los países estudiados, que permite entender las generalidades de las condiciones en las que viven las empresas en la región, y de qué forma éstas inciden en sus dinámicas empresariales internas y en la toma de decisiones con respecto a temas propios de las empresas familiares:

“Mambo”

Los países clasificados como del tipo “Mambo” (Costa Rica, Perú y Uruguay), son aquellos que se caracterizan por una economía de trabajo y energías constantes, con un orden y reglas económicas mejor establecidas que en el resto de los países. Son empresas que se preocupan principalmente por las políticas económicas de los gobiernos locales (16,29%), por la falta de mano de obra calificada (10,64%) y por los impuestos (10,30%). Son empresas más jóvenes y pequeñas, con una gestión más profesionalizada. Las personas encuestadas en estos países tienen un nivel de satisfacción más alto con respecto a la calidad de performance de los directorios de sus empresas (31,70% dice estar de acuerdo con la forma en cómo se dirigen sus compañías).

“Salsa”

Las empresas familiares de Venezuela y el norte de México, viven una situación en su entorno que podríamos clasificar de “ritmo de salsa”: una mezcla en la que aparentemente no existen reglas, una cadencia en la que “todo vale”. Son empresas con una alta preocupación por la inseguridad personal, especialmente por los secuestros (16,20%), por la inseguridad jurídica del país (15,60%) y por los frecuentes cambios en las políticas económicas del gobierno local (15,28%). Son familias empresarias con un mayor deseo de crear un Plan de Sucesión (35,34%), un Protocolo Familiar (29,95%), o un Consejo de Familia (25,9%), pero las preocupaciones del entorno no les dejan tiempo para dedicarse a los asuntos de organización interna de sus empresas y familias. A pesar de ello un alto porcentaje de los encuestados (el 59,00%), manifestó su intención de no querer vender su empresa.

“Tango”

En esta clasificación, los países “Tango” (una combinación de dos en una sola danza), son Argentina y Colombia. Aquí, las empresas familiares se preocupan más por los conflictos entre familiares (15,68%), las políticas económicas del gobierno local (12,65%), la falta de mano de obra calificada (9,63%) y por la muerte inesperada de alguno de los dueños de las empresas (9,31%). Son empresas que se desarrollan en mercados locales altamente competitivos. En estos países observamos el mayor porcentaje de empresas familiares (92,60%) y el mayor porcentaje de éstas en segunda generación (36,90%). Son países de una amplia tradición de empresas en manos de propietarios particulares, con familias muy “puestas en sus deberes” desde el punto de vista organizacional (24,60% de los encuestados dicen que están actualmente trabajando en la creación de su Consejo de Familia).

CONCLUSIONES

No se puede entender a Latinoamérica como un solo bloque homogéneo. La situación de cada país incide en las decisiones de las familias sobre sus estrategias empresariales y las afectan estructural y competitivamente.

La investigación determinó que, en líneas generales, en Latinoamérica predomina el perfil del empresario que ejerce múltiples roles dentro su organización. La mayoría de las empresas son dirigidas una figura paternal que ejerce múltiples roles en la toma las decisiones y el mantenimiento del control y del poder. La figura del líder fundador se encarga de resolver inconvenientes cuando se involucran los negocios con la familia.

Se evidenció que la mayoría de estas empresas no tiene definido un plan de sucesión ni cuenta con órganos de gobierno como el Protocolo Familiar y el Consejo de Familia, que contribuyen a resolver los conflictos que emergen en la interrelación entre el negocio y la familia. Este dato permite inferir que en los próximos años se podría originar un considerable número de cierres de empresas asociados a tales carencias.

Ajegroup: the most global Peruvian family

Ajegroup is the international name of the business group created by the Peruvian family: Añaños Jerí. This multinational Peruvian company in the soft drinks industry, with sales of 3.000 liters or approximately US$ 1.500 million up until the year 2011, holds the second or third place of the market share in 16 countries of America and Asia, including Mexico, the largest soft drinks consumer in the world after the USA. This family business, currently managed by the second generation, is additionally the most globalised Peruvian company and by 2020 plans to become one of the main 20 multinational companies in the world, goal which they hope to achieve by increasing their consumer base in the Asian market.

Their most global brand is Big Cola, which is the official sponsor of F.C. Barcelona from Spain in Latin America and the English Football league in the Asian market; additionally, they have 15 other brands in several categories: soft drinks, juices, re-hydrators, water, beer, bottled tea, soy milk and energizing drinks.

The business adventure of the Añaños family began in 1988 when Jorge, the eldest of six brothers, and his father Eduardo, obtained a loan and the money from their savings in order to install a small bottling plant for soft drinks in their house in the city of Ayacucho, with an initial capital of US$ 30.000.

Ayacucho is a city located in the mountains of Peru, 2.746 meters above sea level and 555 km from the city of Lima. In the eighties, the social and political violence created by the subversive group Sendero Luminoso was reaching its most critical point, affecting the supply of products to the different provinces of Peru. This situation was even more aggravated by the attacks that the delivery trucks from large companies such as Coca Cola, Pepsi or the Peruvian company Inca Kola suffered, generating a shortage of demand. In the face of this crisis, Jorge Añaños convinces his father to open a company in order to supply the internal demand of soft drinks in Ayacucho, with an initial production of 48 crates per day. The approach of the business, from the formula of the drink to the distribution method was devised by the Añaños from the beginning.

This family enterprise was more successful than expected, and in 1991, the other five brothers (Angel, Arturo, Carlos, Vicky and Alvaro) entered the business, through a drinks factory in Huancayo, a city with a lot of commercial activity in the centre of Peru. Two years later they opened another factory in the city of Bagua, in the northern part of the country. The good reception in these first markets gave the family the necessary impulse to take the risk of entering the market in Lima in 1997, which is the main market in Peru with almost the third part of the national population. Once this goal was successfully achieved, the next step became very clear: internationalization.

Venezuela was the first foreign company in the global path of the Añaños and was initially chosen because of its hot climate, a higher consumption per capita than that of Peru and an almost exclusive use of glass containers, which gave them a competitive advantage by penetrating the market with non returnable PET containers. Once again they were successful, encouraging them to penetrate more markets in the region: Ecuador, Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador. Brazil has been the latest in their Latin American expansion.

However, the next step in their global expansion would be even more ambitious and unprecedented for a Peruvian company: to capture the Asian market. During the year 2005, Ajegroup inaugurated their first factory in Thailand, followed years later by Vietnam, Indonesia and India.

The strategy employed by Ajegroup to achieve this exponential growth in little over two decades has been clear: to attack markets with an unsatisfied demand due to elevated prices, and to maintain a low cost policy in order to compete with prices, delivering quality products but in larger containers. Ajegroup was also known to invest moderately in advertising, until they acquired the rights to use the images of the players of F.C. Barcelona and the English Football League in the year 2010. Not even has the global crisis been an impediment for the company´s plans, since they aim for markets with low resources.
This growth has led the Añaños to turn their family company into a corporation (even though Ajegroup is not in the stock market), with the hiring of managers for their branches. However, the decision making of the divisions on a geographical level are led by the brothers: the group President is Angel Añaños, and his brothers are in charge of the South American markets (led by Alvaro Añaños), North and Central America (led by Arturo Añaños) and Asia (run by Carlos Añaños).

Currently, Ajegroup´s finances are managed from an office in Spain, which allows them to adapt to the time zone in Asia (morning) and Latin America (afternoon); the marketing division is located in Bangkok (Thailand) and the new products or production lines are usually tested first in Peru before they are introduced into other markets.

What began as a small family enterprise is now consolidated as the Peruvian company with the largest global scope, even more so than large corporations that have been in the market for over 100 years. All of this thanks to a solid family nucleus, a clear vision of target markets, and well defined strategies. In the year 2013 it is expected that 70% of the demand for Big Cola will come from Asia, after penetrating China (possibly during 2012) and in this way manage to capture a market of 4 thousand million consumers: almost 60% of the world population with a product manufactured by a Peruvian family owned company.

Author: José Carlos Lumbreras: Investigation Unit Chief of Peru: The Top 10,000 Companies
English version: Guillermo Salazar
Originally published in Tharawat Magazine, January 2012.

What’s the Rhythm of the Family Business in Latin America?

Exaudi Research (www.exaudionline.com), together with distinguished academic institutions, business associations and consultant firms from different Latin American countries, headed a study of 750 family businesses in Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. The main objective of the study was to determine the demographic traits and the impact of the environment in the managerial and strategic decision making of the family businesses in the region.

As a result of this study, we found that 85.20% of the privately owned companies in Latin America are defined as a family business. On average, these are companies which were founded during the last two decades. They have between 11 and 50 employees, with gross annual sales of approximately US$ 3,000,000.00. Only 12.38% of the companies generate over US$ 23,000,000.00 in annual sales.

Succession Plan

In Latin America, 47.28% of the companies are managed by the first generation founders, 28.82% are run by the second generation (mostly societies formed by siblings), and in 14.17% of the cases, the management is jointly handled by both generations. Only 9.73% of the companies are led by the third or fourth generations (consortiums made up by cousins). 72.73% admit that they don´t have a succession plan for a family member; whilst a mere 8.93% claim to already have it functioning. The remaining 18.34% are in the process of creating the succession plan or have it, but it doesn´t work. In general, the companies evaluated lack a defined policy under which the knowledge and required skills, necessary for the continuity of the organization into the next generation, may be handed down to an appointed successor.

Family council and Family Shareholder Agreement

The Family Council is the organism which regulates the relations between the family group and the company. In Latin America, 70.70% of the family businesses declare they do not have it constituted. However, the Family Protocol (a document which registers the rules pertaining to the relationship of the family with its companies and patrimony) is a common practice in Latin American family businesses, due to the high level of unfulfilment of verbal agreements, which must therefore be made in writing. 74.01% of the surveyed companies have not formally established a Family Protocol, to which we may add those cases which declare to have it (7.24%), but does not function properly.

Study of the environment and Country Situation

Based on the study of the social, political and economic factors which have an impact on the companies and families of each country, we have classified each one of the countries in order to enable a better understanding of the conditions under which these companies operate and how their internal strategies and decision making regarding family topics are affected:

“Mambo”

The countries classified as “Mambo” (Costa Rica, Peru and Uruguay), are defined by a constant energy and work economy, with more order and better established economic rules than the rest of the countries. The companies are mainly concerned with the economic policies of the local governments (16.29%), the lack of qualified labor (10.64%) and taxes (10.30%). The companies are younger and smaller with a more professional administration. The people surveyed in these countries have a higher level of satisfaction with regards to the performance of the directors of their companies (31.70% claim to agree with the way their companies are managed).

“Salsa”

The family businesses in Venezuela and northern Mexico live in an environment which we could classify as “salsa rhythm”: a mix in which apparently there are no rules, a rhythm in which “anything goes”. These are companies which are highly concerned with personal safety, specially kidnappings (16.20%), legal insecurity of the country (15.60%) and the frequent changes in the economic policies of the local government (15.28%). The families which own these companies are the most interested in creating a Succession Plan (35.34%), a Family Protocol (29.95%), or a Family Council (25.9%). However, the constant worries they are faced with prevents them from dedicating time to matters concerning the internal organization of their companies and families. Despite this situation, a high percentage of the people surveyed (59.00%) manifested their unwillingness to sell their company.

“Tango”

In this classification, the “Tango” countries (two combined in one dance), are Argentina and Colombia. In these countries, the family businesses are more concerned with internal family conflicts (15.68%), the economic policies of the local government (12.65%), the lack of qualified labor (9.63%) and the unexpected death of one of the company´s owners (9.31%). These companies perform in highly competitive local markets. It is in these countries that we observe the highest percentage of family owned businesses (92.60%) and the highest percentage of these in second generation (36.90%). These countries have a long tradition of companies managed by private owners, with families very dedicated to their duties from an organizational point of view (24.60% of those surveyed claim to be currently working on the creation of their Family Council).

Conclusions

Latin America cannot be viewed as one homogeneous block. The situation of each country has an impact on the decisions the families make regarding their business strategies and it affects them structurally and competitively.

The investigation concluded that in Latin America, in general, the predominant founder of the family business exercises multiple roles within his organization. The majority of companies are run by a father figure who executes many roles in decision making and in the maintenance of control and power. The figure of the founding leader takes care of solving any conflicts that arise which involve business and family.

Most of these companies have not defined a succession plan nor do they have governmental organs such as Family Protocol and Family Council which contribute to solving the disputes which arise in the interrelation between business and family. Given this fact, we can deduce that in the coming years, a considerable number of companies may shut down due to the lack of such good management practices in family business.

Project Colaborators

Argentina: ADEN Business School, Niethardt & Asociados and Instituto de la Empresa Familiar.
Colombia: Suárez & Asociados and Universidad Javeriana.
Costa Rica: Universidad Latinoamericana de Ciencia y Tecnología, Cámara Costarricense de Empresas Familiares and Consultoría de Empresas Familiares.
Peru: Peru Top Publications and FG Consulting.
México: Universidad de Monterrey, Coparmex and Álvarez, Carmona & Asociados.
Uruguay: Escuela de Negocios de la Universidad de Montevideo and Delucchi, Labandera, Cianciarulo, Rachetti & Asociados.
Venezuela: Universidad del Zulia, Universidad Metropolitana, Universidad de Carabobo, Ceproca and The Family Business Wiki.org.

Originally published in Tharawat Magazine, January 2012.