family

Centre Family Business Governance

Het GUBERNA Centre Family Business Governance helpt familiebedrijven bij het afstemmen van corporate governance op family governance. We begeleiden bedrijfsfamilies op hun voortdurende reis naar goed bestuur.

Wij geloven dat sterke familiebedrijven zijn gebouwd op een solide familiefundament in combinatie met een professionele bestuursstructuur. Wij ondersteunen onze familiebedrijven met toegewijde diensten die hen helpen om waarde op lange termijn te creëren.

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Family Business

For whom ?

The Centre for Family Business Governance focuses on medium- and large-sized family businesses, where one or more generations of family shareholders work together to shape a sustainable future for their family business.

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Different ways to engage with us

The Centre for Family Business Governance has developed extensive expertise in family governance. We offer in-company training for now-gens and next-gens, board evaluations, remuneration benchmarks, reviews of board documents and advice on board composition. We also support corporate families in drafting or updating a family charter.

Activities

GUBERNA, alongside EY and FBN Belgium, is co-organiser and jury member of the annual 'Family Business Award of Excellence', in collaboration with BNP Paribas Fortis and De Tijd / l'Echo.  

Regularly, together with GUBERNA knowledge partner Hudson Belgium, the Centre for Family Business organises the 'Family Business Platform'. This is a closed platform for peer exchange between family business representatives for insights and knowledge sharing on (family) governance-specific topics (e.g. remuneration committee, next generation involvement...).  

We regularly organise in-company trainings for now-gens and next-gens, and conduct governance evaluations specifically for family businesses. (Reference list can be provided upon request).

  • Family Business Award of Excellence

    Every year, together with EY and FBNet Belgium, and in collaboration with BNP Paribas Fortis and De Tijd / l'Echo, GUBERNA presents the Family Business Award of Excellence. Through this initiative, we want to encourage family businesses to share best practices and put the laureates in the spotlight each year.

  • Family Business Platform

    This is a closed platform for peer exchange between family business representatives for insights and knowledge sharing on (family) governance-specific topics (e.g. remuneration committee, next-generation involvement...).

  • Research

    GUBERNA works closely with the Research Centre for Entrepreneurship & Family Firms (RCEF, UHasselt) led by Prof Wim Voordekkers, and the Expertise Centre Family Businesses VKW-Limburg led by Koen Hendrix. Our research and expertise, combined with the insights and experience from family businesses themselves, form a unique combination. Where appropriate, we also use this to sensitise the political world to the specific challenges of family businesses.

Publicatons for the centre Family Business

The Centre for Family Business Governance frequently publishes notes and articles on the latest trends in corporate and family governance, translating academic insights into applicable knowledge and practical tools. On the topic of family governance, we work together in academic research projects with, among others, the Research Centre for Entrepreneurship & Family Firms (RCEF, UHasselt) with prof. dr. Wim Voordekkers and prof. dr. Anneleen Michiels, the Expertisecentrum Familiebedrijven VKW-Limburg led by director Koen Hendrix, and prof. dr. Eddy Laveren & prof. dr. Ine Paeleman (Dept. of Accountancy and Financing, UAntwerpen). 

We particularly follow the topics of: 

  • Involving the next gens in family governance and corporate governance  

  • How family members can impact strategy  

  • Being a responsible family shareholder  

  • Long term sustainable value creation   

 

Highlighted Publicaties

All publications

Cyber-Risk Oversight

The ISA’s cyber-risk handbooks are an attempt to provide Board members with a simple and coherent framework to understand cyber risk, as well as a series of straight-forward questions for Boards to ask management to assure that their organisation is properly addressing its unique cyber-risk posture.

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Urgenda: how urgently should climate change be put on the agenda of the board?

On our first digital member forum onthe 21st of April we will reflect upon the impact of the Urgenda legal case on the accountability of companies. But what/who is Urgenda? Why is a court ruling on climate change against the Dutch government significant for Belgian companies? Which lessons can a board of directors take away from this case? And what will be the impact of the current COVID-19 crisis on the climate debate?

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Spouses of leaders, first transmitters of the entrepreneurial spirit

A long tradition of entrepreneurial research has repeatedly highlighted the importance of the family in the genesis and transmission of entrepreneurial skills and behaviors. Some researchers have attributed this effect to the phenomenon of role models, which explains how, within a family, parents are observed and then imitated by children, which affects both children’s goals, once they become adults, as well as their aspirations and attitudes.

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Partners & Bevriende organisaties

  • BNP Paribas Fortis
  • EY
  • UHasselt
  • vkw limburg

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