2023-11-07 02:03:39
A shareholders meeting in a car, a board of directors at a Sunday family meal or emotions that weigh almost as much as the profit in an income statement. These are exceptional circumstances that characterize the family business, a fundamental reality of the Basque economy that was analyzed yesterday in the fifth edition of the Bizkaia Business Forum, organized by EL CORREO with the collaboration of Laboral Kutxa.
In these companies, one of the most important moments is the incorporation of new generations into the management of the company. The session held yesterday at the Carlton Hotel and moderated by the economic correspondent of this medium, Manu Alvarez, analyzed three cases from different sectors with its protagonists: that of the industrial group Sidenor, the automotive components manufacturer Teknia and the Rioja Alavesa Winery Luis Cañas.
Despite the peculiarities of business families, the founder of Teknia, Javier Quesada Suescun, recalled that “the first responsibility of a company is to make money.” “If you don’t do it,” he recalled, “you don’t fulfill your social value.” His son and current general director of the company, Javier Quesada de Luis, also pointed out that in this way “an impact is generated for subsequent generations and for the workers and their environment.”
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Precisely the commitment to the environment was the argument claimed by Juan Luis Cañas, who received from his father the business that he now manages with his son, Jon, to explain one of the most transcendental decisions in the history of his winery. And, as he said, given the opportunity to “increase sales by 30%,” they preferred to opt for Rioja Alavesa, for its type of vineyard and quality. This commitment, Cañas explained, has maintained the quantity of production but with more added value and “higher prices, which we have passed on to our clients, our suppliers and the region; because those of us who buy grapes also pay more for it.
The president of the Sidenor group, José Antonio Jainaga, also stressed that this commitment to the environment is one of the differential values of the family business because “you can see where the chief executive sleeps in the company’s decisions.” “There is a relationship with the geographical area, the founder is interested in it lasting and that is when the roots and a look at the community that is close arise.”
The generational transition is one of the critical moments in these companies, in which, as Javier Quesada de Luis jokingly commented, parents “talk a lot.” In the case of Teknia, the promoter of the company 30 years ago has retired and his son currently serves as general director with a board of directors that includes several independents. Quesada Jr. pointed out that sometimes “it is bad for your father to tell you what to do, but you have to know that it is for your own good, so that you can be better.”
The phrases
President Sidenor
Jose Antonio Jainaga
«We have to merge family businesses. With 8 or 10 million in turnover, the projects are not viable»
Founder of Teknia
Javier Quesada
«If a company does not make money, it is not fulfilling its social function. It is your first responsibility.”
Luis Cañas Winery
Juan Luis Cañas
«When we progress, so do our workers, our suppliers and their families»
Obsession for the successor son
Jainaga explained that many times the problem of family businesses is precisely “in the obsession of their promoter to be succeeded by one of their children.” “We have to see if he wants it and if it’s worth it,” she insisted. His own son, Pablo Jainaga, who heads the company that manages the business holdings, Clerbil, explained the need to “exercise honesty because you have to have aptitude and you have to know what you can contribute, in addition to having the will.” . Jon Cañas also delved into this line. After a professional period in the steel industry, he began working in his family’s winery. “I came in from the bottom and did everything,” he explained after pointing out that “children must be humble.”
And leadership is not inherited in DNA. This is how Sara Jainaga, director of Sidenor, explained it, pointing out that “it is a question that depends on the personal situation, education or experiences.” Jainaga also pointed out the importance of this moment arriving with the company’s management being highly professional.
Another issue that can cause friction in management is the drive of the children. As Quesada de Luis explained, “there is an age at which you lose the desire to take risks a little.” Jon Cañas also referred to this aspect when he confessed that “I know how far I can go with my father, he has experience and I want to do, to know.”
One of the main challenges for these companies, beyond the family transition process, is business size. This is what José Antonio Jainaga pointed out when specifying that it is the key that opens the door of a company to internationalization or innovation. In this sense, he insisted that a company with a turnover of 8 or 10 million is “unviable, it is necessary to unite” overcoming the differences that each project has.
Organizers
Txomin García | President Labor Box
«We are identified with the family business»
The president of Laboral Kutxa, Txomin García, highlighted yesterday at the Bizkaia Business Forum that the world of cooperatives and family businesses “have aspects in common.” The head of the financial entity explained that both philosophies prioritize the long term and present a high degree of commitment to local entities that “increases the well-being of society.” The president of the credit cooperative, who ends his term this year, highlighted that, “although it has not been easy,” “we have completed a narrative with values and a future approach that, as happens in the family business, will continue with others”. A trajectory that the bank has been tracing since its beginnings in 1959.
Iñigo Barrenechea | General Director of EL CORREO
«They provide stability and a certain tranquility in a turbulent world»
The general director of EL CORREO, Iñigo Barrenechea, inaugurated the Bizkaia Business Forum yesterday. An event that has reached its fifth edition and that for Barrenechea “has established itself as a key event to analyze the present and future of the business fabric of the territory.” The manager defended that the focus of the event should be on the family business “because it is a type of company with a very characteristic idiosyncrasy that becomes especially relevant in an increasingly turbulent world.” For this reason, Barrenechea assured that “the family business provides stability and a certain tranquility” in an increasingly complex situation due to successive international crises. In addition, he insisted that it is a guarantee for roots.
Not lowering taxes is the “industrial grave” of Euskadi
“Fiscal tools must be used so that there is no flight of companies, especially to Madrid.” The president of Sidenor, José Antonio Jainaga, emphasized this forcefully yesterday at the Bizkaia Business Forum organized by EL CORREO and Laboral Kutxa.
The industrialist pointed out that the problem of the departure of companies “digs the industrial grave of this country” and demanded the need to lower taxes and “not withdraw money from companies.” It was the reflection that he launched on the difficulties that the company is going through in Euskadi and in which he insisted on the need to “dignify the businessman”, because “he is not a person who enjoys firing people and closing plants.” “The country lives off of companies,” he insisted.
Other executives from family companies participated in the event to analyze the challenges for this sector. The founder of the automotive components manufacturer, Javier Quesada Suescun, also intervened to explain that “administrations do not do things better than companies” and insisted that “I am not asking for aid, but rather that taxes be lower and that they let me work”.
Schools and Basque
The return of young people who go to work outside the Basque Country was another of the challenges highlighted. In this issue, the situation of the schools and the demand that employers have been making to facilitate the schooling of students who come from outside the Basque Country and who do not have a command of Basque once again arose.
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