An Investigation Into the Recent Surge of Women Being Chosen As Successor in Family Businesses: a Study of the World`S Fastest Growing Economy

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AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE RECENT SURGE OF WOMEN BEING CHOSEN AS SUCCESSOR IN FAMILY BUSINESSES: A STUDY OF THE WORLD`S FASTEST GROWING ECONOMY

6 Reena Agrawal Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyze the perception of the veterans in the family businesses in India towards handing over the reins of their business to the female child and also explore the latest trend. To achieve this objective we first reviewed the existing literature on influence of gender in succession in family business, we then investigated twenty three family businesses in India who have recently announced their succession plan and we tried to capture the latest trend and also analyzed the implications. We found that the traditional barriers regarding women not being considered as successors in family business, are gradually being dismantled. We found evidences of a paradigm shift in the perception of the owner-managers of the family businesses in India. It was found that family business owners in India have discarded the orthodox primogeniture principle and have involved and groomed the children in the family irrespective of their gender, to take up the daunting task ahead, to ensure continual existence and sustainable growth of their family businesses.

Keywords: family business, family values, succession, predecessors, successors. Introduction

Family bonds, values and customs profoundly influence the family businesses. Generally females did not have official titles or roles in family business and their hard work and contribution are often neither acknowledged nor rewarded. As the boundaries between the family and the firm tend to be blurred, women in family businesses encountered issues such as conflict in roles, family relations, individual identity, faithfulness etc. One of the key hurdles encountered by women in family businesses was that they were not taken seriously. In India an important milestone was achieved when an amendment was made to the Hindu Succession Act, which approved that the daughters were legally 'equal' to the sons and they too shall have the equal rights to claim their share in the family's wealth. This has transformed forever, the conventional patriarchal line of succession in the Indian society. Some experts feel that this development may be one of the factors that have led to the recent spurt of women taking up leadership roles in the family businesses in India.

Objective of the Study

The purpose of this study was to explore and understand the acceptance and role of women in the family businesses in India. The aim was also to analyze the perception of the veterans in the family businesses in India towards the handing over the succession to the female child and also find out the latest trend. To achieve this objective we (i) reviewed the existing literature on influence of gender in succession in family business (ii) investigated twenty

6 Assistant Professor, Jaipuria Institute of Management, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India-

226010, Email: [email protected]

38 three family businesses in India who have recently announced their succession plan (iii) captured the latest trend and (iv) also analyzed the implications. Some of the primary research questions were:  Whether the daughters and the sons given equal opportunity to participate in the  family business?  Whether gender of child was a prominent criteria considered by the owners of the  family business, while choosing a successor in the family business?  What implications did the change in trend is expected to have on the survival and sustainability of the family businesses?

Research Implications

It is most likely that findings of the current study will stimulate the other traditional business families towards the issue of succession. It would help them realize that if succession is not handled with sensitively, it may hamper the growth and expansion of the enterprises owned by their family. It is also expected that the findings would uncover valued insights, which may be used by the various stakeholders in the family business such as the family, business, predecessor and successor. It would help them to: (i) resolve the prevailing problems, (ii) promote facilitating atmosphere for the identification, training and grooming of the potential successor and (iii) develop systematic and transparent procedure for the transmission of management and control of the family business in the hands of the younger generations in the family.

Research Methodology

This study was based on secondary research. The details about the twenty three family businesses in India were collected from large number of publically available sources such as research articles in academic journals, newspaper articles, the company websites and other online resources.

Overview of Literature

The succession process is fundamental to the longevity of the family business and thus it stays at the heart of family business dynamics. It comprises of a set of indivisible systems and sub-systems such as: family, business, predecessor, descendant, and external environment (Cadieux et al., 2000; (Fattoum & Fayolle, 2005). According to Sharma (2004) the succession process was affected at different levels: at individual level there may be influence of different groups of stakeholders, at inter-personal level among different generations, at organizational level through corporate culture and tactical management and at societal level by way of linkages with the external environment. The different sources of influence or resistance on the succession process in family businesses have been documented at each level (Cadieux et. al., 2000; Fattoum & Fayolle, 2005; De Freyman et. al., 2006).

The role of daughters in family business is profoundly influenced by the societal framework that relates to the expectations and role of women in the business and the family. According to Allen & Langowitz, (2003) and Miller et. al., (2003) there was sex-based partiality that preferred sons over daughters as management inheritors irrespective of their capability or personality to lead. As a result, daughters have been comparatively deprived of attaining necessary training, practical experience, and collective support to take up the top role (Astrachan & Whiteside, 1990; Nelton, 1998; Cromie & O‟Sullivan, 1999; Martin, 2001;

Estess, 2001; Sherman, 2002 and Haberman & Danes, 2007). Rosemblatt et al., (1985) stated that the female offspring did not receive the equal backing, chance and education as the male offspring, and that prevented the daughters from moving toward decision-making position in the family business. Pyromalis et. al., (2004) also found in their research that there existed noticeable bias against women in the succession process in the family businesses.

Kealting and Little (1997) found that gender was as a key factor in the successor election process. Many family businesses used the primogeniture principle, where the eldest male child would inherit the family business, thus relieving the fathers from the unpleasant task of choosing between their children. A preference for male successors was unequivocal in the family-business literature irrespective of suitability (Dumas, 1992; Kealting & Little, 1997; Stavrou, 1999; Miller, et. al., 2003). According to (Kealting & Little, 1997; Stavrou, 1999) traditionally daughters were not considered for succession into top executive positions in the family businesses. Stavrou (1999) found that, even if the daughter was the primogenitor, she was not considered to run the family business. The irony was that some owners even preferred to sell the business, instead of allowing their daughters to lead it. Francis (1999) stated that primogeniture continued to dominate the value system of family businesses, where a son was expected to join the family business, but a daughter was given a choice or rather not invited. Daughters were not considered as managers, despite the strength of their credentials, unless a critical need got created by an unforeseen crisis. There were evidences of daughters entering the family business because of a crisis in the family in the form of illness of the incumbent or there being no sons in the family. In contrast to sons, the problem of ambiguity was more complex in case of daughters, as they were not considered as future successors (Barnes, 1988; Salganicoff, 1990; Dumas, 1992, 1998; Cabrera Suárez, 1997; Curimbaba, 2002).

Dumas, (1992) and Miller et al., (2003) discovered in their research that most often fathers had tacit expectations that their sons would take over the family firm and therefore “groomed” their sons for the role. The sons were nurtured with an implicit understanding that they would take over the reins of the business once they were grown up, while the daughters lacked such opportunities. The studies showed that fathers did not see women as having the capacity and experience necessary for running a business. It was also found that fathers did not consider their daughters as viable successors, even after daughters entered the family firm and proved their competence over a period of years (Hollander and Bukowitz, 1990; Dumas, 1992). While the sons knew that they would inherit their father`s business and the non-family stakeholder were prepared for the imminent outcome, the daughters tend to be „invisible successors‟ and if they tried to proclaim their rights and take up position in top management, they were seen as violating the family hierarchy (Dumas, 1992). Daughters found themselves in exceptionally difficult position since they regarded themselves as protectors of family unity, they avoided conflict and their succession process was inhibited (Hollander and Bukowitz, 1990).

Aronoff (1998) and Martínez (2009) noticed the change in recent years, with women´s growing involvement and contribution in family businesses. Studies have suggested that western firms, who in the past, had followed the principle of primogeniture while transferring control in family enterprise (Levinson, 1971; Dumas, 1989) increasingly considered gender neutrality and team leadership (Aronoff, 1999); however, Indian firms continued to follow the principle of primogeniture very strictly and did not allow women to play a significant role in the business (Dutta, 1997; Sharma and Rao, 2000).

Vera and Dean, (2005) in their study brought out the positive aspects such as opportunities and advantages that women can offer on joining the family business. Danes, Haberman McTavish, (2005) and Dumas, (1989) indicated in their research that as females were socialized differently within both families and business systems, they had better capability of communicating and solving problems differently than their males counterparts. According to Alimo-Mecalfe, (2002) women were found to be more fascinating, influential and transformative leader in comparison to men and were to be able to intellectually stimulate others. Vera and Dean, (2005) found in their research that in comparison to men women were less mistrustful, more peacemaking, less dictate, more focused, more sympathetic, more malleable, more poise, cooperative, compassionate, sought opinion of others and took unbiased and rational decisions, attended to both business and family well-being. Pyromalis et al., (2004) found out that women outperformed men on the “satisfaction with the succession” dimension, while men outperformed women on the “effectiveness of the succession” dimension.

Findings

More and more daughters were taking over the family business from their fathers, not because they inherited the empire by virtue of their birth, but because they proved that they are qualified and competent to take charge of corporate affairs. While some had just joined and were still helping the business grow, the climb to the top for most others had been tricky.

It was evident that the predecessors had broken the psychological block that a son and not a daughter can become potential successor. These women successors infused their entrepreneurial energy in to their family business and helped the firm stay ahead of the curve, while taking on ever greater responsibilities on key accounts. As, women continued to expand their role in the business world and displayed that they were as capable as men, the parents were giving key positions to their daughters in their family businesses.

1. Apollo Hospital: Prathap Reddy, Chairman Apollo Hospitals announced that his eldest daughter Preetha Reddy would manage the group after retirement. He said that all his daughters have made valuable contribution in his enterprise and the ownership shares of the Apollo Hospitals is divided equally. Preetha Reddy, his eldest daughter would work as Managing Director Apollo Hospitals', while Suneeta Reddy who worked as Executive Director (Finance) has been re-designated as Managing Director and Sangita Reddy who worked as Executive Director (Operations) has been re- designated as Joint Managing Director. Preetha had formally joined Apollo Hospitals as Joint Managing Director in 1989 and proved her metal when she was still a recruit, she helped in resolving a strike called by the employees. She is known for has an exceptional ability to bring people together and is regarded as easy to work with. She avoided being bossy and always gave opportunity to people and nurtured their talent.

2. TVS Motor: Lakshmi Venu, daughter of Venu Srinivasan, the Chairman and Managing Director of TVS Motor and Mallika Srinivasan, was inducted as a Director on the board of auto-component maker Sundaram Clayton Ltd, TVS Motors' holding company. This move was viewed as a succession plan for TVS Motor, India's third- largest two-wheeler manufacturer by sales. Lakshmi has impressive educational credentials. The school topper, Lakshmi graduated in Economics from Yale and completed Doctorate Degree from the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom. Lakshmi joined TVS Motor's Hosur, a manufacturing unit, as a management trainee.

She spent three years as a management trainee. She then worked in the areas of product design and sales, corporate affairs, business strategy, and marketing at TVS Motor. Her brother also joined the board of Sundaram-Clayton. Her cousins Arathi Krishna and Arundathi Krishna, daughters of Suresh Krishna, Chairman and Managing Director of Sundram Fasteners, also joined the company as Executive Director and Additional Director respectively to manage the USD 4 billion.

3. Kinetic Motor Company: Sulajja Firodia Motwani is the Joint Managing Director of two-wheeler firm Kinetic Motor Company, a position she inherited from her father. Being at the helm of Kinetic, she faced the challenge of leading a company after their joint venture partner, Honda, moved out. She had to deal with the market when scooters were not in fashion and motorcycles were the rave. Kinetic had to make its debut in the motorcycle business and tied up with overseas manufacturers to bring in modern scooters to lure back customers. Sulajja coped with this difficult part, made her parents proud and paved way for her siblings. Sulajja did her MBA from Carnegie Melon and worked in California for a couple of years before heading back home to join the family business. Her sister, Vismaya Firodia, also joined the company as vice-president, marketing support services and HR. Vismaya did her operations research at Princeton and worked for three-and-a-half years at a New York-based consultancy firm before joining the business. Their brother also joined the family business and handled the marketing function. Though born in „Marwari‟ family the children were brought up in a liberal atmosphere.

4. HCL Corporation: Roshni Nadar, the only daughter of tech billionaire Shiv Nadar, took over as Executive Director and CEO of HCL Corporation at the age of 27. This young heiress did her MBA in Social Enterprise Management and Strategy from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management. She majored in radio, television and film and did internships with CNBC and CNN before she went to pursue a career in management. After completing her education and she headed back home to join HCL Corporation, holding company of HCL Tech and HCL Info as CEO in 2009.She looked after the treasury operations including investment decisions, business development, brand building and social initiatives of HCL. Roshni was involved only in the investment company HCL Corp, and not in either HCL Infosystems or HCL Technologies - both managed by a group of professionals. Interestingly, this young lady had her interests in media and had changed her major from Economics to film. HCL is the fifth largest IT company in the country with a market capitalization of around Rs 12,500 crore.

5. Thermax: Another great example is Meher Pudumjee. She took the chair once occupied by Thermax founder and her grandfather AS Bhathena, nurtured by her father Rohinton Aga and preserved by her mother Anu Aga. Meher joined Thermax as a trainee engineer in August 1990. In a year's time, she was given the responsibility to manage the company's overseas operations in the UK. She returned to India in 1996 and became a member of the Board of Directors. After her stints with the treasury and working capital management functions, she moved to corporate strategic planning. In 2001, Meher was appointed Non-Executive Director of Thermax and became Vice-Chairperson in 2002. She learned the ins and outs of the business for fourteen long years and lived up to the expectations of her family, before succeeding her mother in 2004. A post graduate in chemical engineering from the Imperial College of Science & Technology, London, she was awarded the Business Standard CEO for 2007-08. Since Meher took over, the company's turnover has grown from Rs 880 crore to Rs

3,300 crore. She has given the green focus of the company a new impetus and has used logic to support her decisions. She steered and enhanced her company's green portfolio to make it a global player in the energy space. She learnt the art of perseverance from her father and the expertise of human resource management from her mother.

6. Venkateshwara Hatcheries Group: Although Anuradha Desai may have inherited her father's empire by virtue of her birth, she strived hard to expand into newer areas of poultry business and survived bird flu outbreaks. Daughter of late BV Rao, pioneer of organized poultry business in India, leads the Venkateshwara Hatcheries Group. Anuradha perfected the vision she inherited from her father and is today the voice of the Indian poultry industry. She has increased the turnover of her father's business manifold. When her classmates were busy playing in their house, she was engrossed in feeding the birds and acquainting herself with the nuances of poultry hygiene. From there Anuradha came a long way as she now oversees a multi-activity business including eggs, egg powder, poultry feed, animal feed, vaccines, biotech, R&D and now even wine distribution and entertainment, with husband and her two brothers along her side. She also added the export initiative of Venky's Chicken to her success story.

7. Hero Corporate: Shefali Munjal was inducted into father Sunil Kant Munjal's Hero Corporate to explore the company's greenfield projects. Where others failed, she kept the IT and ITeS businesses afloat, and added new ones to the portfolio. Besides these projects, she has been an integral part of the business development and strategic decision making team at Hero Corporate. Shefali was actively involved in strategic reviewing of operations and was team player. She completed Senior Management Program from Harvard Business School and right after her college she joined the family business and launched an IT initiative in a group that was a huge challenge. Her induction programme was based on bottom up approach – she began from the shop floor and gradually moved up the ladder to the top management. After having sharpened skills in the fields of consultancy, implementation and support services for enterprise resource planning, supply chain management and customer relationship management, this third generation Hero Group is aspiring for more.

8. DLF Group: Pia Singh manages her father's entertainment venture. Daughter of KP Singh, Chairman DLF Group, heads DLF's entertainment venture, Digital Talkies Cinema as well as handles the group's retail business as its managing director. This multi-tasking persona worked with GE Capital in risk underwriting before joining the group. Interestingly, Pia's inclination towards films was not newfound. During her academic days she pursued a short term film-making course from New York University after graduating from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania with a major in Finance.

9. Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels: Priya Paul took the reins of Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels after the untimely death of her father Surrendra Paul. Younger sister Priti Paul looked after the shipping business of the Apeejay Surrendra Group. Priya gave a new dimension to the Park Hotel chain. Priti took over the creative side, and looked after the Oxford bookstore, the Cha Bar chain and the real estate division. Priya is a Bachelor of Economics from Wellesley College, USA, while Priti is a Master in Design Studies, from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Science in Architecture, minor in Economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA. Brother Karan Paul has joined Chairman and handles other businesses.

10. Godrej Group: For Godrej daughters it was tough, the kids had to join as interns, prove themselves, and move ahead. Adi Godrej's daughter Tanya Dubash is now president, marketing and executive director in Godrej Industries and younger daughter Nisha is Chair Godrej Industries and is also on the board of Godrej Agrovet. When Pirojsha, started work at Godrej properties after a three-week induction programme like all others, all his father had to say was that Pirojsha career would depend solely on his performance, as it would for any new entrant in the group. "I have always considered them equal and anyone from the family who wanted to join the business was free to join if they were qualified," said Adi Godrej.

11. Hindustan Construction Company: Shalaka Gulabchand, daughter of Ajit Gulabchand, Chairman and Managing Director of Hindustan Construction Company, and the man behind Bandra -Worli sea link, joined the company in September 2000 as an executive planning and business development. There was no time frame for the only daughter as to when she will be part of the board. It was performance based. In December 2007, Shalaka was appointed Vice President-Business Development. Shalaka holds a Bachelor's Degree in International Relations from Boston University.

12. Jindal SAW: Sminu Jindal, daughter of Prithviraj Jindal and granddaughter of OP Jindal, joined the family business as a trainee in her teens in Swastik Foils, a unit of Jindal SAW. She was responsible for the profitable turnaround of a financially sick unit, in the maiden year in the family business. She could do this by introducing the manufacturing of ultra-thin gauge steel that was not heard of during those days. She then got trained at Jindal SAW and eventually joined the helm of affairs as the Managing Director. She initiated environment protection steps like effluent treatment plants and environment friendly processes much before the government regulatory authorities' drive. Jindal SAW Ltd was one of the very first companies to be awarded all environmental clearances.

13. Parle Agro: Prakash Chauhan's three little stars were groomed to join the Parle Agro business from the very beginning. The eldest, Schauna Chauhan did her B-schooling and joined the Parle Agro in 1999 and by 2002 she was running the business. She is now the CEO, while daddy remains the Chairman. Alisha Chauhan was passionate about fitness and opened 'V3' a chain of health and fitness centres. She diversified the business through this venture. Meanwhile, the youngest, Nadia Chauhan, started to attend marketing meetings with her dad at the age of 11. Officially though, she joined the business in 2002.

14. MBD Group: For publishing major Ashok Malhotra succession planning was never an issue. His daughters Monica Malhotra Kandhari and Sonica Malhotra took over the reins very early. A commerce graduate, Monica explored her passion for publishing by joining the family business as a trainee in the MBD group's publishing and printing wing at the age of 16. She is now the senior executive director of MBD. Meanwhile, Sonica, an MBA in finance from International Management Institute France, was executive director at MBD and handled key projects in hospitality and real estate sector, right from project planning to execution and is also responsible for branding, positioning and assisting in expansion plans of the group.

15. Radison Communication: Lara Balsara, joined her father Sam Balsara's Radison Communication at the age of 26. Lara did her BA from St. Xaviers College in Mumbai and went to the UK to pursue her masters in marketing from Bristol University. She came back and joined Madison as a trainee in 2003. She diversified

the business further and was responsible for the success of Madison Teamworks and Entertainment, Madison Retail Paradigm and Madison RKD retail. When Lara started working at Madison, she received no special privileges and had to work hard from executive level to top level. Her father`s philosophy, integrity and conduct inspired her to take tough decisions as her role and responsibility increased. The company has grown 300 percent since Lara joined in 2003 and is now one of the biggest media conglomerates with an international footprint in Srilanka and Thailand.

16. Pritish Nandy Communications: Rangita Nandy joined father Pritish Nandy's PNC in August 1999 as Executive Producer and has progressed to Creative Head of the company. She has been a producer of Bollywood Films. Prior to joining PNC very early in age, she was trained in advertising and marketing at Ogilvy & Mather and Percept Advertising. When she joined PNC she designed and managed the production of its television shows and events. She also prepared the essential groundwork for PNC's foray into the motion picture business. She headed PNC's creative functions, supervised and managed the in-house production team, greenlights its cinematic projects and oversees strategic PR and marketing for it and its products. She has been working as a full time Director of Pritish Nandy Communications Ltd., since 2005. She served as Director of PNC Productions Ltd., PNC Sippy Media Ltd., Ideas.com India Private Ltd., Sarvakala India Private Ltd and Studio PNC Private Ltd. An alumnus of HR College of Commerce and Economics, Mumbai and she had specialized in advertising, sales management and sales marketing.

17. Mukta Arts: Meghna Puri has been a part of dad Subhash Ghai's Mukta Arts from the age of 16. She helped her father fulfil his dream of setting up an institute to teach film making. Today, she is the President of the Institute--Whistling Woods International. She did her Business Management from King's College in London. In 2001, she returned home and laid the foundation stone of Whistling Woods International (WWI), a film school. After that Meghna along with the core team did a lot of research, visited several universities, colleges and film schools all over the world not just to develop the curriculum, but to develop the architecture, rules to be set in the school, understand administration works. Started with a batch of seventy students, the WWI campus now has four hundred students and over a thousand have graduated and are working in the industry. WWI was also named among the Top 10 Film schools in the world by „The Hollywood Reporter‟ in its August 2013 edition.

18. Zenith Computers: Devita Saraf joined her father's Zenith Computers while she was a student. From the age of 16 she started working in various departments of the company to learn the ropes of running a firm. Devita pursued an undergraduate programme in Business at University of Southern California. But while her classmates were applying for jobs at consulting firms, Devita was clear that she wanted to run her own company eventually. She realized that coming back to join her father‟s firm would be the best place. She joined Zenith as its marketing director at the age of 21. It was around this time, in the early 2000s, that Intel and contemporaries were developing high-end personal computers. Devita, who was involved with product development, realized that Zenith‟s existing distribution channel would not be able to accommodate the high-priced personal computers. She spearheaded Vu Technologies, the pioneer in the concept of 'Luxury in Technology' and launched luxury lifestyle brand VU TV in 2006 which she started selling from her own stores and multi-brand stores. The Topper Laptop, Power of Seven Laptop range, Infotainer

II, Multiply and the Topper Desktop are some of Zenith's products launched under her leadership.

19. Future Group: The first woman in the family to enter the business, Ashni Biyani, daughter of Future Group CEO Kishore Biyani, started involving in the innovation and incubation division of Future Group at an age of 22. Ashni graduated as a textile designer and has attended courses on scenario planning at New York's Parsons School of Design and the Summer Institute of General Management at Graduate School of Business, Stanford. Ashni mentored Big Baazar and Family Centre, the new format of the value retailing. Ashni has been appointed as Director of Future Ideas and leads the incubation team while her cousin Vivek is Director of Home Solutions Retail, the group's fastest growing segment. The other children in the family are expected to join family business once they completed the education though there is no compulsion for anyone to join family business. The next generation of Biyanis are being groomed to take on the role of mentors to guide the different segments of business. The family has created a family office which has seven family members. The objective is to give the group business a strategic direction while separating family and business interests. Frequent meetings are held to share ideas and discuss future possibilities. The seniors in the family impart tacit knowledge to the next generation.

20. Lupin: The siblings Vinita and Nilesh Gupta are in charge of Lupin, the Rs 11,086- crore pharma conglomerate. The Chairman and Founder Desh Bandhu Gupta, handed over the company's rein to his children. Vinita, a pharma graduate and an MBA from Kellogg Graduate School of Management, was appointed as the CEO, and her role and responsibility was to concentrate on the Lupin`s business in the US, Europe and Japan. Nilesh was appointed as Managing Director, and is responsible for the research and manufacturing. The sibling underwent efficient training and grooming by their father and Kamal K. Sharma, Vice Chairman, before they were given the responsibility to lead the one of the biggest pharma conglomerate.

21. Max India: At 23, Tara Singh Vachani, daughter of Max India Founder Analjit Singh, came up with an innovative idea for the health care and insurance addressing the needs of 60 years and above age group. She started Antara Senior Living a residential project for people above 60 in Dehradun. She had to carve out her territory and her own charter. The basic traits that helped her scale new heights were her strong emotional quotient, her ability to do multi-tasking and her sensitivity towards issues and organization. Besides taking care of her core project, Tara also plays a key role in the group's decisions. She is a member of the group's CEO council that includes the leadership teams of all businesses and meets four to five times a year. She has helped the group grow manifold.

22. Piramal Enterprises: At 31 Nandini Piramal , daughter of Ajay and Dr. Swati Piramal, leads 'operational excellence' at Piramal Enterprises which has a market capitalization, of Rs 11,606-crore, owned by her parents. She has strong conviction that quality should be the top priority and all should make it happen. She put in place a system of surprise audits. After the U.S. Food and Drug Administration raised the bar, these audits were made more stringent. This gave enough reason to her parents, to have made her to join the family business as a general manager of the operational excellence department in 2006. A graduate from Oxford University and MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business she worked at McKinsey before joining the family business. Even as a child she loved walking around manufacturing units and

she would often point out areas that needed improvements," says Swati. She keeps a watchful eye on 11 such manufacturing plants, of which six make USFDA-approved drugs, leads the HR vertical that takes cares of the 7,000-odd employees, strategizes the Over-The-Counter business. World Economic Forum chose her as one of the Young Global Leaders. Her brother who loved design and architecture concentrated on Piramal Realty. The Piramals feel that their children have brought multifarious strengths to business.

23. Emami Group: As a kind Priti Sureka escorted her dad Mr. R.S. Agarwal, Co-Founder and Joint Chairman of the Rs 7,000-crore Emami Group, to his work place. Priti had shown inclination toward the business ever since she was in fourth standard. Her passion was to develop new products. She also looked after strategy, promotion, R&D and brand building. She is the only woman on the sixteen member board of the Rs 1,800-crore flagship company Emami Ltd. She said that she could leverage her strengths due to the supervision of her father and the support of family members involved in the business.

Discussion

The current study undertook the investigation of twenty three family-run businesses who have adopted gender equality in their family and business. In some cases the children were oriented towards the family businesses in the early age, in some cases children had natural inclination towards their parents business and in some families children had freedom to choose their career and there was no binding on them to join the family business. It has also been observed that these parents were not prejudiced towards their sons, they provided equal opportunity to the sons and the daughters in the family to participate in their business, and were determined to let their children prove their worth for the business and choose the most competent one to lead the business. These findings were in contradiction to the work done by (Allen & Langowitz, 2003 and Miller et al. 2003) who said that the family business is profoundly influenced by the societal framework and there was a sex-based partiality that preferred sons over daughters as management inheritors irrespective of their capability or personality to lead. Our finding were also inconsistent with the finding of the (Astrachan & Whiteside, 1990; Nelton, 1997; Cromie & O‟Sullivan, 1999; Martin, 2001; Estess, 2001; Sherman, 2002 and Haberman & Danes, 2007; Rosemblatt et al.,1985) who said that daughters have been comparatively deprived of attaining necessary training, practical experience, and collective support to take up the highest role as they matured and further stated that the female offspring did not receive the equal backing, chance, and education as the male offspring, and that prevented the daughters from moving toward a decision-making position in the family business.

We found that in most of the cases the daughters were given the responsibility to lead the business and in some cases sons were also working alongside daughters in the family business. This was in incongruity to the findings of Pyromalis, et.al., 2004; Kealting and Little (1997) Dumas, 1992; Kealting & Little, 1997; Stavrou, 1999; Miller et al., 2003, (Miller, et all., 2003) who found that there existed a noticeable bias against women in the succession process in the family businesses and even found out that, even if the daughter was the primogenitor, she was not considered to run the family business. This was also in contradiction to the finding of Hollander and Bukowitz, (1990); Dumas, (1992) who found in their study that fathers do not see women as having the capacity and experience necessary for

47 running a business even after daughters entered the family firm and proved their competence over a period of years.

The owner manager of the twenty three family businesses which were studied recently announced that their daughters would take the lead role their businesses. Our findings are in congruence to the study done by Aronoff (1998; 1999) and Martínez, (2009) who said there is growing involvement of women in family businesses; increasingly considered gender neutrality and team leadership. We found that the women who had inherited their parent‟s family business had helped their companies to grow using their intellect, tact, passion and commitment. These finding were in accordance to in the study by Vera and Dean, (2005) which brought out that women brought new opportunities and advantages on joining the family business. The young female successors were appreciated for their maturity and empathy with which they handled the issues and problems in the organization and were less dictatorial in approach. The proactiveness with which they took innovative initiatives, the courage with which they coped up the unimaginable challenges, the tact with which they handled people related issues, the vision with which they spearheaded the organization to new directions and new heights hold testimony to the fact that women are equally competent to take up the leadership roles and in many cases may prove to be better than men. These results were in accordance with the (Dumas, 1989; Alimo-Mecalfe, 2002; Danes, Haberman McTavish, 2003) who in their research indicated that as females are socialized differently within both families and business systems, they had the capability of communicating and solving problems differently than their males counterparts women were more fascinating, influential and transformative leader in comparison to men and were able to intellectually stimulate others. Our findings were also in agreement the research of Vera and Dean, (2005) who found that in comparison to men women were less mistrustful, more peacemaking, less dictate, more focused, more sympathetic, more malleable, more poise, cooperative, compassionate, sought opinion of others and took unbiased and rational decisions, attended to both business and family well-being. Finally it was also observed that the daughter broke the traditional barriers and entered the world of business ownership at an unprecedented pace, shared the family values, took pride in furthering the family traditions, had a desire to make their family business grow, worked hard to earn respect in the family business, proved their professional expertise and live up to the expectations of their parents.

Conclusion

Although, earlier in the succession process of family businesses, there was discrimination based on sex, in this research we have found that there are families that give the same opportunities to their offspring independently of their gender. As more and more firms are headed by women, it is likely that many of the traditional barriers regarding women as successors in family business will be totally dismantled. With globalization and fast moving business environment creating unpredictable challenges the family businesses, there is an urgent need for the predecessors in the small and medium sized family businesses to discard their orthodox mindset. They need to involve and groom the children in the family irrespective of their gender, to take up the daunting task ahead and hand over the baton of the business in the most competent hands to ensure incessant existence and sustainable growth of the family business.

Limitations and Future Research Agenda

This study is restricted to investigating a handful of age old family businesses in India. A similar study can be replicated in the other developing countries across the world of the

48 country to get a better perspective. Further research can be taken up to understand how aspects culture, technological disruption, globalization, increased competition etc. affects the succession in the family businesses, measures taken by women successors to manage the survival and growth of their family businesses in today`s era uncertainty and economic slowdown across the globe. A mix of qualitative and quantitative and techniques to would be much helpful in deriving realistic conclusions.

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