Programs & Events
Event Details
Event Details
- Webinars: Trending@HBS
- Virtual
You'd have to have been sleeping under a rock to miss the family war and media frenzy over Market Basket, the Boston-based, family-owned supermarket chain. Thirty years of infighting and court battles between two branches of the Demoulas family culminated in the summer of 2014 with unprecedented employee protests, customer boycotts, and financial losses. The confrontation between two cousins (both named Arthur Demoulas) over control of the company was finally resolved with a buyout of one branch by the rival branch, with the help of debt and private equity.
The Market Basket buyout should have happened 20 years earlier. Often, healing a dysfunctional family business situation requires interventions around ownership. But buyouts of family owners rarely happen—even when it is clearly a good option.
In this webinar, Professor John Davis explains why family businesses need to change their mindset that family ownership groups are permanent groups that are difficult to enter and leave, and how the shift to ownership teams will bring reduced family conflict. Davis addresses lessons from the Market Basket case that will help family businesses prevent and manage ownership disputes: