About CIFA
The International Business Families Centre:
Providing tools and best practices
The International Business Families Centre offers services adapted to the special needs of family enterprises and the various professional advisors who support them.
Knowledge transfer
Expertise
The Centre is customized to meet your family business challenges. It is adapted to your firm and the unique issues you face in the environment in which you operate.
Training is offered by experienced professors, researchers and professionals (notary, lawyer, chartered accountant, financial planner) and other recognized institutions.
Here are some of the topics we intend to cover in our training sessions:
■ the family succession process: key success factors
■ the various stakeholders: spouses and members of the extended family, attracting and motivating key non-family members, trusted advisors
■ governance options: family council, board of directors, advisory committee
■ managing interpersonal family dynamics: conflict, entitlement, fairness, competition
■ the legal aspects: coordination of wills, mandates in case of incapacity, inter vivos trusts, shareholder agreements, employee agreements
■ the various types of legal entities: sole ownership, general partnership, profit-making corporation (registered or private company)
■ the various ownership options and perspectives
Training will be offered in various formats: themed conferences, common-interest small group meetings, real life testimonials, new technologies and a resource center.
Academic contribution
Learning
The topic of family businesses has long interested professors and researchers at HEC Montréal and McGill. Our professors develop courses for undergraduate and graduate programs, write articles for specialized journals, present case studies and organize research activities.
Aware of the importance of succession in family businesses for the economy of Quebec and elsewhere in Canada, the CIFA is taking the initiative of creating an association of students who are members of families in business or want to work there. Through this association, students have the opportunity to meet professionals in the field, develop a network of contacts and also interact with resource people who can advise and guide them.
Support networks
Skills Development
The Centre is also a forum for exchange and networking. In collaboration with key partners a series of seminars breakfasts, lunches and cocktails are some of the many occasions for getting together and sharing practical experience. Family businesses will gain a network of individuals and mentors they can draw upon to help them succeed and survive the perils of their unique environment.
Thanks to a common interest in the subject of family business and the close relations maintained locally as well as internationally with the Business Families Foundation, the Canadian Association of Family Enterprise, the Family Business Network and the Family Firm Institute, you have access to the best management practices and can also benefit from many leading edge tools and resources. While the context is sometimes different, the challenges are often the same.
