A family business is an organization that is often the focus due to its particularities, but its weight as an engine of the economy is often overlooked. According to the report “La empresa familiar en España” (The family business in Spain), prepared by the Instituto de la Empresa Familiar (Family Business Institute), these companies create 67% of private employment in our country and are responsible for 57.1% of the private sector GDP. The case of Galicia is particularly striking, where family businesses generate 86.3% of employment and 85% of GDP.
Furthermore, according to the Family Business Institute, these organizations have shown greater resilience in times of crisis: the closure rate between 2013 and 2015 was 8.5%, compared to 10.1% for non-family businesses.
But what are the keys that make a family business such a solid entity with such weight in our business fabric?
The distinctive qualities of a family business
One of the greatest differentiating values of a family business compared to other organizations is its long-term vision, as well as its capacity for long-term planning.
Ensuring the continuity of the business is an intrinsic objective of the company’s very nature. However, the continuity and good economic performance of the company are only possible through responsibility and generational commitment within the family. This, in turn, results in another of the great benefits of a family business: the great trust it generates, both internally and externally.
Another of the most important aspects of a family business is its ability to transmit the company’s values and culture not only from generation to generation but also to the rest of the team. As we will see, this is one of the keys that have made Castrosua a united and strong family business.
The Castrosua case
It was the year 1948 when D. José Castro founded Castrosua. At that time, no one could foresee what would happen, but the company grew to become a life project that would transcend three generations to the present day.
José Manuel Castro, son of D. José, was at the head of the company as vice-president and CEO for over 25 years, until his death in 2007. The following year, his brother Juan Luis Castro succeeded him in the position, to be appointed president of the group in 2014.
The latest generation of the Castros joined Castrosua’s management through Beatriz Castro, who was appointed vice-president of the Board and CEO of the Group in 2017. In Beatriz’s own words, “we cannot speak of generational succession as such on this last occasion; we can say that it has been a reorganization of the management team where the second generation, like our president, remains active, although I assume the operational part as CEO.”
An article from El Confidencial pointed out one of the major handicaps of family businesses as their lack of international presence: only 11.3% have a presence outside our borders. Being in that part of the statistics is one of the great challenges for these companies, which Castrosua faced through Pegaso more than 60 years ago, when they first went abroad, for example to Egypt, Chile, Cuba, and Kenya, among others.
Looking ahead, the objective is to continue improving processes and products, as well as expanding the range and training teams. As Beatriz says, “it is in this last point where the support and commitment of our president, in the evaluation and development of future leaders, is fundamental.”
Values as a foundation
For a family business, every day counts. It is in the day-to-day that its values, philosophy, communication, and family pride must be strengthened, and that is what makes the company endure over time. This is how Juan Luis Castro, president of Castrosua, expressed it in an interview with La Voz de Galicia, “as we try to do ourselves.”
Continuing with Juan Luis’s reflection, when management is applied through values, “a climate of trust and camaraderie is created among employees, where each person tends to offer the best of themselves.” This is also reflected in the results. Intangible assets are the most difficult for other companies to imitate, therefore, they represent one of the most important differentiating values.
If there is one thing the family demonstrates in the business, it is passion for the business mission and, of course, for its continuity. All of this “facilitates and speeds up decision-making, such as reinvesting profits or creating new development plans.”
As we mentioned in the first point of this article, another of Castrosua’s keys as a family business is the trust from clients and suppliers, gained in part by the strong cohesion demonstrated by the family in the face of adversities that have arisen over the years.
