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The ‘surname ceiling’ holding back family companies
Many bright workers steer clear of such businesses because promotions are scarcer and rewards lower.
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The reality is that families are as mixed and as mixed up as owners of other companies – and sometimes more so.
ST PHOTO: SHINTARO TAY
Andrew Hill
If you are lucky enough to be born into Sweden’s Bonnier family – which owns the Swedish media and publishing group – you will receive a set of Bonnier-branded building blocks and a Bonnier-published book before you even leave your crib. It is one way the family signals to new members that they are part of something special and starts to instil positive values.
Senior family member Tor Bonnier gives a one-word instruction to his teenage children: “Behave.” If they do not, “it isn’t just going to reflect on you and me, it’s going to reflect on hundreds of (family) shareholders”.
