by Radu G. Magdin*
On the occasion of its tenth anniversary of activity on the Romanian consulting market, Smartlink Communications launches today the report “Large family businesses in emerging markets: models and opportunities for the Romanian family business in times of crisis”, dedicated to existing opportunities in emerging markets to strengthen sustainable family businesses. This report is part of the company’s priority project called "Global Romania", which aims to internationalize the Romanian businesses and consolidate a more consistent national business presence at regional, European and global level.
The report, developed with the support of Banca Transilvania, aims to become a useful tool in the context of multiple economic and strategic challenges at this time, for all those interested in the dynamics of developing large family businesses and their importance in local entrepreneurial culture. It highlights several relevant conclusions regarding trends in global wealth circulation and the behavior of large family businesses in increasingly dynamic markets.
In terms of global trends related to large family businesses, based on the data analyzed, the report shows that these are natural consequence of the rise of emergence powers, especially in the East Asian states, which also shows that large family businesses have not been stuck in the past, but rather represent a landmark of the present and preserve their dynamism, being prepared to define the future of economies of any size. Also, according to the data analyzed in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the family businesses proved to be more resilient than initially expected.
The report also proposes an x-ray of large family businesses in each of the relevant countries in Central and Eastern Europe, including Romania. In this context, the evolution of large family businesses in Central and Eastern Europe must be seen in the broader context of the major economic changes over the last 30 years. The success story of the region focuses on Poland, a country that had an economy 2.6 times higher in 2016 than in 1990, and an increase in the number of those between 25 and 34 years with higher education from 14% to 41%. Romania, in order to cope with this regional boom, needs to improve the structural foundations of its economic growth, mainly through a stronger focus on education and employment policies, with family businesses playing a key role in its success.
“The best way to celebrate a decade of activity of Smartlink Communications is to present a report that analyzes two important milestones for the activity in the next decade: the process of internationalization of the Romanian businesses and the transformation of the local market as a whole, including its becoming into a mature market through the successions of success at the helm of family business. In this context, the report, which is the result of a team work that I had the pleasure to coordinate, aims to highlight a series of global and regional trends relevant to Romania, especially for ambitious players operating in emerging markets.Romania has business families increasingly interested in growth and consolidation not only nationally, but also regionally and in Europe. At the same time, some of them are already setting global ambitions. This report - the first in an annual series dedicated to large family businesses - can be a real support in calibrating the country’s external action, in the direction of capitalizing on opportunities by those who, beyond ambition and information, train their teams in the spirit of international competition. From this perspective, a comparative analysis is more than useful. Special thanks to Banca Transilvania for its support for this anniversary project,” said Radu Magdin, CEO of Smartlink Communications.
The report can be downloaded at Report EMSC 2022. As a terminological note, the term "superclan", used from the English-language report to describe large business families, comes from and is gaining more and more traction in Asia (special edition on the Nikkei Asian Review), a continent defined by growing family business conglomerates with pan-Asian and global ambitions. Moreover, the next project in the family business area of Smartlink Communications will be called "Asian Century Superclans" and will focus on the main business families in the top three economies of Asia - China, Japan and India, as a natural sequel of the project.
*power strategist passionate for Leadership, Communications, Competition & Risk, a member of Forbes Business Councils, he authors the forthcoming book "Global Europe & Global Romania: a Competition and Communications Playbook"
By: N. Peter Kramer
