Legacy Business; the Modern Failure

From the outside the  company appears solid. It is well known, has a good name, and has been around for quite some time.

It is a ‘legacy’ business, created by the ancestors of the current owners.  The public has confidence in this long lasting business.  This may be a mistake, for often it is a different story Inside.   But how many people get inside to  learn that the business is surviving on past revenue and/or rentals of property?

The business acumen of the current owners seem to  suggests that the previous ought have done a DNA test before bequeathing to his children.

This is the heart of what is a Legacy Business.

A business that was created by astute business people.  Business people who worked hard and were fortunate in often becoming a monopoly, due either to connection with government or simply that no one else thought to compete.

The first entrepreneurs worked hard, focused on the business.   Some had children who came into the business before it had reached the pinnacle and learned the work ethic and practised it.

Some bore children after their success who came into the world with a sense of ‘entitlement’.

It is the attitude and ability, or lack thereof,  of these children which is the centre of the collapse of legacy businesses.

These children (or in some cases, grandchildren) believe they deserve their eminence there is no ‘work ethic’ or idea of ‘pleasing the public’, they behave as royalty.

Only in very rare cases do direct descendants of the owner grow with the business saavy of their parents or grandparents. In truth, most couldn’t run a newspaper stand.

Some owners realise that their  (grand) children can not run a business and turn the company over to a more distant relation, who can do the work.  Some turn their companies from private to public and sell shares. Some create a Board.

But, in most cases, the company is  passed to incompetent brats who grew old and fat as the company proceeds down the bung hole.