Aprendizaje colaborativo en educación inicial.

Table 6: Case A – SPM Themes RO1: Contextual

Factors

 FOB operated a business model outside of the traditional Vietnamese clothing industry

 Chose son instead of daughter as successor. Son originally not interested in FOB.

DL (Founder)  Vietnamese cultural alignment with strong ties to community social recognition.

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 Very strong view of keeping business in family.

 Would only consider male successor.

Did not understand SPM.

HL (Successor)  Strong Vietnamese connection but shaped more towards a structured business approach.

 A delineation culturally towards Australian ideologies.

 Would consider sale of the business if he was offered a significant amount of money, he no longer wanted to run the FOB, he did not have a successor from the family or he no longer had a passion to run the business.

Other Sources  Improved management practices because of use of technology and education.

RO2: Relational Factors

 Founder was very satisfied with his business relationship with his son.

 External stakeholders acknowledged that the relationship with the successor was as strong as it was with the founder.

DL (Founder)  Strong sense of familiness within family and extended family.

 Ready to share information with networks for betterment of Vietnamese community.

Sought to employ non-Vietnamese to build community ties to Australia

HL (Successor)  Strong sense of familiness with his family and extended family.

 Loyal to his father, but reluctant to share information with networks or Vietnamese community, views this as loss of competitive advantage.

RO3: Transition Factors

 Founder satisfied with results of transition.

 Successor successfully operating the business.

 The FOB has demonstrated business improvement in

management practices that are supported by document review.

DL (Founder)  Proactive in grooming son for succession and did not want to wait until he was too old or sick to commence the transition process.

Saw this as a strategic business decision to move his business forward. The founder realised his business limitations and relied on his son to make the required improvements

HL (Successor)  Proactive mindset in that he realises the need to prepare a successor but stated that he would do transition process different to his father. His father only wanted him as the successor but HL would consider either male or female if he had children.

 No preference for successor as long as the son or daughter was suitable and had passion for the role.

Business Process Factors

 Improvements in technology.

 Supply chain and operations

DL (Founder)  Business process from non-technology era and more communal structured than corporate.

HL (Successor)  Business process is corporate aligned.

 Has bought management structure and modern business

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4.2.7 Summary Analysis (Case A)

Case A highlights the founder’s diversification away from one of the traditional Vietnamese FOB of clothing manufacture and towards developing a Nail Shop which was a relatively new industry in Australia at the time. Thus, opportunism and not tradition is a contextual factor that sits behind this succession. It is notable in that the founder stepped away from a traditional industry into a feminine industry (Nails), yet held to the cultural preference for a male successor.

The founder’s decision to establish a non-traditional Vietnamese FOB enabled him to integrate into Australian society, by employing staff other than Vietnamese in both the salons and beauty school. In addition, it allowed the founder to build the FOB outside of the competitive Vietnamese FOB’s of restaurants, clothing manufacture and Asian grocery stores. Although the FOB would eventually become successful, it was shaped by Vietnamese cultural values of building and maintaining strong relationships, family values and traditions.

The founder was using a business model from a friend in the United States that still utilised his limited business acumen, which consisted mainly of hard work and possibly an innate ability to be successful in business. It is evident that he also relied on the family unit, the wider Vietnamese community networks, hard work and knowing that if he did not succeed his family would not remain financially stable. This approach is consistent with what Nugyen (2015) noted - that in respect to management and control, in a Vietnamese FOB, the founders manage for convenience sake, relying on the talent they are endowed with and their experience. This case is consistent also with earlier work by Ram (1993), who noted that family and community lie at the heart of ethnic businesses social networks. The founder is traditional Vietnamese and exhibits the classic Confucian set of values such as sense of community and the drive to build strong relationships.

He maintains strong community and family ties and is concerned about maintaining his reputation within the Vietnamese community and social networks. The founder DL, achieves this by using his name to build community relationships between Vietnamese and Australians such as arranging donations for the Good Friday (Children’s Charity) Appeal and being seen as an influential elder in the Vietnamese Community. As well, Case A demonstrates a change in approach that is quite fundamental. Johannisson (2000) noted that family and personal networks are important for providing information with access to physical, financial resources, human and social capital.

83 The willingness of the founder DL, to share information with external networks such as friends and other Vietnamese business people was supportive of this view and consistent with the collectivist Vietnamese mindset. However, the successor is more individualistic and less committed to traditional Vietnamese cultural requirements such as only employing or sharing information within the Vietnamese community and external networks.

The emerging relational SPM factors in Case A highlighted that both the founder and successor had to maintain a strong business and family relationship for the FOB to remain sustainable. Both the founder and the successor to a lesser degree, noted that it was very important that the business remain in family ownership and that a family member manages the business. As well, both highlight the importance for the business knowledge to be shared within the family and by having a long-term plan for the business. This has been enabled initially by the succession process itself and by the successor in the improvement of business practices, improving customer and stakeholder satisfaction and the possibility of increasing store locations and supply of nail products into retail stores.

However, there was a difference in approach between the founder and successor in sharing business knowledge with networks, maintaining culture specific employment for Vietnamese and community recognition for the family. The founder DL, views these three SPM factors as an essential part of building and maintaining a Vietnamese FOB that would provide face and status in the Vietnamese and Australian community. However, the successor HL, views the sharing of business knowledge with networks as a way of losing the family business secrets or know how to competitors and would not consider this option. As the successor, does not hold a strong connection to the Vietnamese community he would employ people who would bring skill and knowledge to the FOB that would contribute to business growth. The successor considers that the recognition of his father for a successful transition process is of more importance than a broader community recognition. Most notable was that the founder would never consider the sale of the business, whereas the successor would consider that prospect if he no longer wanted to continue in the business, it had become unprofitable or he did not have an identified successor for himself. The successor (HL) noted that his knowledge of the business was gained by observing and quickly adapting to the family business process. This was achieved by working with his father, being introduced into his father’s business and social networks and by being involved in business decision making.

84 It allowed HL to build on his successes and learn from his mistakes. Ready adaption is important, as is having a transition plan, as described in the following quote by HL, the successor.

‘When I started, I was this 19-year-old kid dressed in a suit trying to drum up business with 40-year-old men, it didn’t quite work out well’.

The main transition SPM factor evident in Case A highlighted for it to be successful, is that HL the successor has to gain the approval of his father’s business networks and more importantly the Vietnamese community. The ability of the successor to maintain the success of the FOB would have been assessed against the founder’s business practice. External suppliers, customers and employees of the FOB also would have compared management ability, communication and knowledge of both the founder and successor. As HL stated, bridging the age gap in business knowledge was a difficult task but he was eventually able to earn the ‘respect’ of his father’s business network and internal employees, because of his ability to maintain the business and stakeholder relationships that had been built by his father.

This evident gap in business knowledge by the founder seems to be magnified by the contrasting formal business qualifications of the successor, this despite his initial reluctance to be involved in the FOB. That aside, and perhaps, of greater immediate relevance for the successor is the practical implications of age and associated perceptions when working with older members of the community. This cultural factor (relative age) suggest succession plans in ethnic FOB must include an extended transition to allow the younger family member and successor to be introduced to the wider business network in order to establish himself / herself. Both the founder and successor viewed their transition as part of maintaining the continuity of their family business. However, DL and HL did not agree that a formal succession planning process had occurred. Rather, as HL the successor stated, ‘succession planning is

not really a word for Vietnamese people’. Succession is viewed as a natural FOB process where continuity is a given and transition planning takes on a greater level of importance. For example, transition occurs as a natural process of grooming or preparing the successor who is entrusted with sustaining the FOB. The founder possessed an entrepreneurial mindset that was focused on: providing income for his family, gaining respect in his adopted land and maintaining his pride in the Vietnamese community. The successor also has developed his own entrepreneurial mindset with ongoing plans to modernise the FOB and implement improved management practices to support the growth of the FOB.

85 Observations of both DL and HL demonstrated that they have a common business aim and evident respect for each other’s opinions and judgement. The founder did not provide any coaching to the successor but his knowledge of the business was gained by doing and reflecting on successes and failures. Subsequent observations of the salon environment suggest an improvement in business practice following succession. Most notable in this case study was that the founder attempted to maintain a strong connection with the Vietnamese community by assisting other Vietnamese in employment, charity events and helping friends to become successful in their FOB’s, whereas the successor was more focused on being seen as an Australian of Vietnamese heritage who was part of the broader Australian community. The case study noted the different views of the founder and successor in maintaining ownership of the business. The founder was adamant that the FOB would always remain in family control but the successor was not as fixed on maintaining ownership of the FOB. In terms of finding a successor, while the founder was adamant he wanted his son to succeed him, the son initially did not want to work in a beauty business.