How well do we know the value of what we own? From the perspective of business owners, their ventures are as precious as the goose that lays the golden eggs. Aware of this, business owners strive for their businesses to grow and generate more profit. But it is a mistake to think that a business generates profit only for its owner. Because businesses also have hidden owners. These hidden owners are all the parties that benefit from that business: employees, suppliers, the state, society and so on. As a result of the value a business provides, the boss earns profit, employees earn salaries, the state collects taxes, and society receives the benefit the product brings. The business thus becomes a system working in everyone's interest.

With this awareness, all parties must make an all-out effort for businesses to survive and be sustainable. But is that what happens? Who puts in how much effort so that businesses live forever and continue from generation to generation? Here, the most important duty falls to the boss who has successfully developed the venture. I say boss, not business owner, because we emphasized that all parties are owners of the business. Note that I am not saying the bosses are the owners of the business — all parties are its owners. In other words, the business is an asset that belongs to everyone. But let's look at what happens from the boss's perspective. The boss who has taken the business from zero to a certain size and value works with all their might. If things go well, demand grows, and they make a great effort to meet it. Naturally, they receive their reward and earn money. With what they earn, they invest to earn even more and to meet demand. With more employees and more capacity, the business grows, and as it grows the needs increase.

Growth brings management problems with it. The importance of planning, organization, staff development, coordination and control is understood more and more. The situation resembles this: a master craftsman working alone produces excellent work, but when he takes on an apprentice we can see the product quality drop — because he now performs part of his work by delegating it to his apprentice.

The growth process is interrupted from time to time; in these periods demand does not tend to increase. These are precisely the periods of opportunity for companies to evaluate themselves and increase their capacity for corporate development. Of course, this should not be taken to mean self-assessment is done only in these periods. But from a time-management perspective, these intervals offer more room to focus on corporate development projects.

In our country, many businesses face losses stemming from management problems. While business management in itself requires talent and competency, being able to step back from management or hand over the role when the time comes also requires virtue. It is like handing the driver's seat of your car to someone else while it is moving. The biggest obstacle family businesses in particular must overcome is the transfer of management to the next generation. This is a matter of vital importance for making the company's value sustainable.

The rate of transfer to the third generation in family businesses is around 4%
Because when we look at the current state of family businesses, we see that their average lifespan is 25 years. The most important issue is sustainability problems. The rate of transfer to the third generation in family businesses is around 4%. These figures tell us this: businesses can stay standing in parallel with the boss's productive working life. Afterwards, when the cousins get involved, the process turns into a management crisis. And the company comes to its end.

So what happens in such a situation? The family loses its wealth. Employees lose their salaries, the state loses its tax revenue. But there is more: being erased from society's memory. The biggest factor in a business becoming a brand is that it has contributed to society's life with quality under its brand for years. When that disappears, a new company tries to fill the gap — but considering that this new company or companies are also at the beginning of the road, it is not hard to predict that the same processes will play out again in a cycle.

Every boss should assume they will one day sell their business
In my view, the most effective solution for businesses to overcome these problems and become sustainable is this: every boss who starts a venture should build a system assuming that one day they will sell it to someone else — a system in which the work can run without them. To this end, the conditions for opening up to capital markets can be considered. A boss acting with this vision knows that the most important rules for being offered on capital markets are the principles of corporate governance, and builds the infrastructure of the business accordingly.

Author: Atakan Genç