Family businesses must keep up with the pace

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Retailing is often a family affair. Many independents are family businesses and a large number of start-ups are family-run.

Lots of our greatest retailers started this way and some even made that difficult transition to become a successful dynasty.

Some then moved in different directions, diluting the family shareholding with a public listing or by inviting in new investors. Whichever path they take, family-run retailers mark an investment of time, resources, blood, sweat and tears.

So you can only imagine what it must have felt like last week for the Lewin family to see Clinton Cards slip into administration. Hard too of course for the employees and others with investments in the business. Even if by the time of reading this its future has been assured, it won’t have eased the upset for the family with their ‘name’ over the door.

In the same week, Carpetright revealed that Lord Harris is relinquishing the chief executiveship of the business synonymous with his name and family.

When so much attention has been focused on private equity or public ownership models, one wonders what can ensure longevity in a family-run or family-dominated retailer.

A crucial factor must be that the founder has enshrined a philosophy or set of values that can be handed down. Think Jesse Boot or John Sainsbury, whose final words were reputed to have been “keep the shops well lit” – something today’s JS executives have remembered.

M&S’s old Baker Street HQ had a mock-up of the original Penny Bazaar market stall as a reminder of its origins.

Other families take a more ruthless view that there is little room for sentimentality if a business is to move forward. Ian MacLaurin famously clashed with Tesco founder Jack Cohen when he dropped Green Shield Stamps to slash prices and set the business on its modern growth drive. The relationship was patched up when he was proved right.

Similarly, the Lewis family took the radical step of closing the famous Chelsea Girl brand to convert it into River Island.

Which is probably the best lesson for any company, family-owned or otherwise: no business can stand still.