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The job of operating a family-owned company is often grievously complicated by friction arising from rivalries involving a father and his son, brothers, or other family members who hold positions in the business, or at least derive income from it. Unless the principals face up to their feelings of hostility, the author says, the business will suffer and may even die. He offers some advice on how relatives can learn to live with their peculiar situation. But he concludes that the only real solution is to move toward professional management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

...has both strengths and weaknesses. The important thing is to recognize and understand them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the family business of Brenninkmeyers in Germany. It mentions that the family enterprise holds the four biggest companies in Holland, like Shell, Unilever and Philips. It states that their secrecy dates to 18th century, when they kept their accounts in code even to their wives. Account executive Doyle Dane Bernback states that Brenninkmeyer are shrewd businessmen who are always updated on the latest management techniques.

The article features S.C. Johnson & Son Inc., which is one of the 10 biggest privately held corporations in the U.S. It says that the family company employs traditional and imaginative approach in management and has been diversifying into new markets. President Samuel C. Johnson asserts that a privately owned company of long standing offers management philosophy continuity that a public company is not able to uphold.

The article provides details about aluminum manufacturer Reynolds Metals Co. as a family corporation run by brothers Richard, Louis and David Reynolds as of 1974. The author pays specific attention to the company's survival under the competition of U.S. aluminum manufacturer Alcoa Inc after World War 2. Critics related to the corporation's performance are also reviewed.

The article discusses court decisions on retained profits which the author believes roundly condemn specific family corporations but support the judgment of other corporations in reserving earnings for the needs of a business. Some of the examples cited include the 50% surtax imposed on two family corporations, which are offset by another decision in which the taxpayer, a manufacturing corporation, was upheld and the Commissioner overruled by the Board of Tax Appeals.

The article focuses on the development of the Maryland Cup Corp. as a result of Shapiro family nepotism in the U.S. It states that the Shapiros own 65% of the company's stock and dominate its board with ten of twelve family members. It provides how the family developed ice cream products and specialties to build up the business. It also offers how they devised a technique of using rotary bakers instead of the single line machinery in common use.

The article looks at the decision of construction materials manufacturer Vulcan Materials Co. to leave the slag industry and enter the construction equipment industry as of February 1, 1959. Special attention is paid to businessman Charles L. Ireland's involvement in slag industry and his "ambitious" grandson Charles W. Ireland's management of Vulcan. The performance of the corporation in the construction business is also reviewed, with particular focus given to its earnings per share.

The article reports that U.S. District Court Judge J. Foster Symes of Denver, Colorado has ruled that a non-earning officer of a corporation is not considered an employee, which, if upheld by higher courts, will exempt thousands of family firms from paying social security unemployment taxes.