Family Business (Research Paper Sample)

Family Business
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Family Business
A family business entails a business owned and operated by members of either one or several families. Some of the companies that are started as a family business end-up being publicly held. Non-family members normally operate many family businesses, but, predominantly, in smaller companies, the top positions are usually allocated to family members. Many people start up family businesses but fail within a short period. This is because they do not equip themselves with the necessary knowledge and paper work before commencing them (SCHWASS 2005). It is therefore imperative to conduct a thorough research and seek for advice before commencing any family business no matter how small it is. This paper examines one of the family businesses in Ireland "The SISK GROUP”.
History of SISK GROUP
John Sisk pioneered the SISK GROUP in the year 1859 as a small family construction business. Since then, the business has always embraced John Sisk’s vision of providing extra-ordinarily high levels of construction expertise by ensuring that its staff is well trained and motivated. Back then, John Sisk had an impressive record of work in the province of Munster, building hotels, schools, churches, and banks. The company got one of its pre-eminent positions in the Ireland construction market in the year 1979, when it was honored the contract of erecting the Papal Cross during the Pope’s visit. Since then, the company has been expanding tremendously with establishment of branches in the United Arab Emirates and Poland (Wallace n.d.).
The company’s vision and strategies
The company’s vision focus on diversification and establishing an international record in provision of its service by honoring the family’s culture, providing quality services, and investing specifically on activities that yield long-term sustainable results. In addition, the company has a set of strategies, which include:
* Continued investments in the already existing businesses in order to seize opportunities in the newly established market sectors
* Concentrating on expansion of all their branches and establishing new ones
* Continued review of their systems in order to ensure provision of quality products
* Continued training of their personnel in order to ensure that SISK GROUP is a great place to work and their employees are inspired to their best.
* Focus mainly on their customers’ expectations.
SISK GROUP Zero Philosophy
SISK GROUP does not believe that it is not possible to eliminate accidents and injuries in construction sites. The company emphasizes that killing and injuring people in construction sites is unacceptable. To ensure this, they only recruit employees with high standards of safety. In addition, the company has managed to counter the threat of accident and injuries among its employees by changing their attitudes and behaviors. This has been done by changing the perception that it is impossible to control accidents to "it’s possible to have no injuries and accidents”. With this in mind, employees have been extra-vigilant on their own safety and as a result, cases of accidents reported are minimal.
SISK Principle of sustainability
The sustainable development approach adopted by John Sisk & Son Limited entails minimization of environmental effect and maximization of sustainable construction of any project in a society. This approach mainly focuses on environmental protection, economic balance, and active engagement in social progress. In order to ensure this principle works effectively, the company focuses on reduction of waste send to landfill, and instead maximizes its potential of using the waste as a resource. In addition, it also invests a lot in improving community’s welfare, and increasing the knowledge of sustainability in its work force.
SISK GROUP Services
The company operates in a relationship-based approach to business and as a result, it works with a close collaboration with its customers who range from private sector to the public sector. Its customers can derive variety of benefits from the company’s coordinated approach in designing, planning, delivery, construction, and the currently ongoing maintenance of buildings and infrastructural assets. SISK Group offers a spectrum of services in order to facilitate all these all these benefits. These services are grouped in four main areas, which include construction services, professional services, FM services, and private/public partnership services. The construction services include construction management; main/principal contractor; management contacting; package contracting (Civil Structural Architectural); and Engineer, procure, constr...