Gulf family businesses to hold talks in Bahrain

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Scores of family business from the Gulf and other Arab countries will converge on Bahrain at the end of this month for a conference that will focus on the repercussions of the global financial distress, said organisers.

The German-based International Institute for Family Enterprises (IIFE) will sponsor the October 30-November 1 event, its second family business summit after last year's family business summit in Cairo, said IIFE.

"This summit is addressing one of the most important topics in modern business life: how family firms manage - and manage very successfully - in an increasingly internationalised and shifting market," it said.

The Arab-German Family Business Summit 2009 "Family Businesses and the Economic Crisis", to be held at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Manama, will bring together representatives from many business families in the six-nation Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) as well as economic institutions, universities and other establishments from the Arab countries and other regions.

"In workshops and conversation rounds, international academics from universities such as Harvard Business School, Yale University, Princeton University, and Witten/Herdecke University, along with more than 200 representatives of renowned family enterprises will discuss and develop new strategies and approaches to partnership," IIFE said.

"The summit will specifically address the challenges that confront family businesses in these times of profound structural change of the global economy. Moreover, the summit will provide participants with the opportunity to engage in personal conversation with one another, and facilitate the establishment of valuable contacts."

Papers at the conference will cover structuring a global family business, the role of a board of director in a family business in the light of the 2008-2009 recession, investment opportunities in family businesses in light of the financial crisis, sustainability and long term thinking as a strategy opposed to crisis worsening short thinking, Arab family businesses in economic policy-making - and informal influence, how to integrate sustainability into the management of family-owned businesses, conflict management in family firms: lessons from Saudi Arabia, management of family wealth, and lessons learned from the crisis.

Speakers will include delegates from the Federation of GCC Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Al Ghurair Investment Company, Dubai School of Government, family companies from other Gulf countries, Harvard University and other institutions.

"We welcome the Arab-German Family Business Summit to Bahrain. We look forward to a successful Summit; a forum for debate and an opportunity to bring together business to exchange ideas and discuss shared goals," said Hassan bin Abdulla Fakhro, Bahraini Minister of Industry and Commerce.

The IIFE was founded in 2007 as the international unit of the renowned Witten Institute for Family Business at the German Witten/Herdecke University.

The IIFE is the first academic institute to focus on Arab family businesses by enabling the sustainable and personal exchange of knowledge, experiences, and innovative strategies between leading Arab and German-speaking family businesses.

By Staff Writer

© Emirates Business 24/7 2009