“富不過三代”之憂催生“家族企業(yè)基本法”

Family businesses are acutely aware of the danger they face. Most do not make it beyond two generations: power struggles between successors and dispersion of wealth and control are just two ways in which a budding dynasty can fall.

家族企業(yè)強烈地意識到了自身面臨的危險。多數家族企業(yè)都“富不過三代”：繼承者之間的權斗、財富與控制權的分散，都可致一家嶄露頭角的企業(yè)王朝傾覆。

More such companies are drawing up family constitutions, also known as charters or protocols, to help them prosper and endure. These are statements that set out a family’s values, strategic goals and governance.

更多家族企業(yè)正在制訂“家族基本法”(也可稱為憲章或協(xié)定)以確保企業(yè)興旺發(fā)達、基業(yè)延綿?；痉ㄖ械谋硎隽_列了一個家族的價值觀、戰(zhàn)略目標和治理模式。

They are not new — the Mitsui merchant family of Japan created one in 1722 — but their use has expanded, especially in the past ten years. The financial crisis brought disputes over asset allocation and the direction of businesses, and helped boost their popularity. Other factors to have spurred the growth of constitutions include volatile oil prices, political turbulence and the spread of family wealth out of China and India.

家族企業(yè)基本法并非新生事物——日本三井(Mitsui)商人家族1722年便草擬過一部——但其使用范圍有所擴大，尤其是在過去10年。金融危機帶來了圍繞資產分配和企業(yè)發(fā)展方向的爭論，幫助提高了此類基本法的受歡迎度。刺激此類基本法增多的其他因素包括波動的油價、政治動蕩以及中印兩國國內家族財富的流出。

“Where the goal of the family is to continue to manage the family business or the family wealth collectively across the generations, a constitution can be very helpful,” says Bernard Rennell, head of family governance at HSBC Private Banking.

“家族的目標是代代相傳地對家族企業(yè)或家族財富進行管理，在這方面，基本法非常有幫助。”匯豐私人銀行(HSBC Private Bank)家族治理主管伯納德•倫內爾(Bernard Rennell)說。

The proportion of family-owned businesses whose owners have a written constitution ranges from 63 per cent in Finland to 4 per cent in Japan, according to a survey of 2,800 family enterprises by PwC. In India the figure is 36 per cent, Germany 19 per cent, US 18 per cent, UK 14 per cent and China 8 per cent.

普華永道(PwC)對2800家家族企業(yè)進行的一項調查顯示，企業(yè)所有者已制訂成文基本法的家族企業(yè)的比例，從芬蘭的63%到日本的4%不等。在印度，這一比例為36%，德國9%，美國18%，英國14%，中國8%。

Companies whose owning families have adopted constitutions include India’s GMR Group, an infrastructure and manufacturing business founded by GM Rao; Carvajal, a publishing and packaging multinational based in Colombia; and the Dachser logistics business in Germany.

持有人家族已采用基本法的企業(yè)包括：GM Rao在印度創(chuàng)立的基礎設施和制造業(yè)企業(yè)GMR集團(GMR Group);總部位于哥倫比亞、從事出版與包裝的跨國公司Carvajal;德國物流企業(yè)超捷(Dachser)。

China’s Sun family adopted a family business constitution in 2005 after Sun Dawu, founder of the Dawu agricultural business, spent six months in jail for a grain deposit scheme judged to have misused public funds: it concentrated his mind on the need for a governance system to ensure the company’s survival.

2005年，中國的孫大午家族通過了一項家族企業(yè)基本法。此前，因向農戶借款的計劃被判定濫用公眾資金，河北大午農牧集團創(chuàng)始人孫大午在獄中呆了6個月：這一經歷讓他明白了需要一種治理制度確保公司的生存。

Typically, a constitution will set out issues such as a family’s values and vision, its criteria for selecting the business’s leaders and rights and responsibilities for family members involved in the business and those who are not. They differ in detail, however.

通常而言，一部家族企業(yè)基本法闡述的包括一個家族的價值觀和愿景、遴選企業(yè)領導者的標準，以及參與和不參與企業(yè)經營的家族成員的權利和責任。然而，不同家族企業(yè)的基本法在細節(jié)方面并不相同。

“They don’t really have a typical length or form or content and they are entirely bespoke,” says Mustafa Hussain, partner at law firm Taylor Wessing, who has written a lot of constitutions for families in the Middle East and Asia. These have ranged from six pages to 30, depending on the circumstances.

“家族企業(yè)基本法真的沒有統(tǒng)一的長度、形式或內容，完全都是根據各家族量身定制，”泰樂信(Taylor Wessing)律所合伙人穆斯塔法•侯賽因(Mustafa Hussain)說，他為中東和亞洲的很多家族草擬了基本法。根據情況不同，這些基本法的篇長從6頁到30頁不等。

Apart from the mission statement, Mr Hussain says the most important provisions are those to ensure the family portfolio stays together. “Keeping the wealth and the portfolio together protects you from the threat of ‘rags to riches and back to rags again in three generations’,” he says.

除了宗旨說明，侯賽因表示，最重要的是那些旨在確保家族全體成員團結的條款。“保持財富和家族成員的團結，可以避免‘富不過三代’后果，”他說。

Provisions are often unique to a company’s needs. For example, the Schurter family, which owns a Swiss electronic components business, commits to setting aside a percentage of revenues for innovation every year. India’s GMR constitution stipulates the make of car each family member is entitled to have.

有些條款常常是針對企業(yè)需求特設的。例如，旗下擁有一家瑞士電子配件企業(yè)的舒爾特(Schurter)家族，承諾每年拿出1%的收入用于創(chuàng)新。印度GMR集團的基本法規(guī)定了每名家族成員有權享有的汽車型號。

Constitutions are usually not legally binding though they must be drafted carefully to fit in with shareholder agreements and take into account structures such as companies, foundations and trusts. Mr Rennell says it is important to ensure that decision-making procedures have legal effect.

家族企業(yè)基本法通常沒有法律約束力，但也必須周密地擬定，以契合股東協(xié)議，還要將企業(yè)、基金會和信托等組織機構考慮進去。倫內爾表示，確保決策流程具有法律效力很重要。

Family constitutions are a growth area for consultants, lawyers and wealth managers. Families often bring in consultants to handle discussions about creating a constitution, which can provoke arguments about control and what happens to wealth.

對于顧問、律師和財富經理而言，家族基本法是一個不斷擴大的領域。家族經常讓顧問介入，處理有關制訂基本法(此舉可能引發(fā)有關控制權和財富變化的爭論)的討論。

Once agreed, however, constitutions help to avoid conflict. “They tend to stick to what is in the document. In later years, when people wonder where they stand if one of them wants to buy out or one person wants to leave, they refer back to the document,” Mr Hussain says.

然而，一旦達成一致，基本法有助于避免沖突。“他們傾向于遵守成文的規(guī)定。將來，當一名家族成員希望買斷或者離開而大家無所適從時，可以回頭查閱基本法。”侯賽因說。

Advisers urge families to keep their constitutions up to date. The UK’s William Jackson Food Group, owned by the descendants of the man who founded it in 1851, drew up a constitution in the mid-1990s and reviews it every five years.

顧問鼓勵各家族的基本法保持與時俱進。英國的威廉•杰克遜食品集團(William Jackson Food Group)上世紀90年代中期制訂了一部基本法，以后每5年審查一次。這家創(chuàng)立于1851年的集團目前仍為公司創(chuàng)始人的后代所有。

“The bigger the body of people you are working with, the bigger the challenge. There is a need to have a very structured governance system,” Nicholas Oughtred, chairman, who is the founder’s great-great-grandson, told EY for a family business report.

“你與之合作的人員組織的規(guī)模越大，面臨的挑戰(zhàn)也就越大。我們需要擁有一種結構化程度很高的治理制度，”上述集團創(chuàng)始人玄孫、董事長尼古拉斯•奧特雷德(Nicholas Oughtred)對安永(EY)表示，后者正在撰寫一份家族企業(yè)報告。

Elizabeth Bagger, executive director of the UK’s Institute for Family Business, says more first and second-generation families are opting for constitutions. She believes they can be advantageous, although the thing to avoid is maybe “being too rigid and prescriptive”. Adopting a constitution is no guarantee of avoiding conflict.

英國家族企業(yè)協(xié)會(IFB)執(zhí)行董事伊麗莎白•巴格爾(Elizabeth Bagger)表示，更多一代和二代的家族正在采納基本法。她認為，此類基本法可以帶來好處，不過，需要避免的也許是“太過僵化和規(guī)范”。采用基本法不能保證避免沖突。

“You still have to talk, you still have to have relationships. Communication is a key element as well. A good governance structure combined with communication is important,” Ms Bagger adds.

“你仍須進行談判，仍須建立聯系。溝通也是一個關鍵因素。良好的治理結構加上溝通很重要。”巴格爾說。