For many fathers and sons, that personal relationship also blends into their careers. About 80 percent of businesses in the United States are family owned, according to the Center for the Study for Taxation in Washington.
Mixing the parent-child dynamic with a business partnership can be as rewarding as it is challenging. A trust not often seen in corporate America can develop - with plenty of clashes, too. Keeping the company in the family through generations requires planning.
“That’s one of the great problems is there is no succession plan a lot of times,” said Robert Blaney, a district director with the U.S. Small Business Administration in Phoenix.
The odds seem stacked against family businesses. Only 34 percent survive to the second generation, and only 12 percent survive to the third generation.
But survival means a greater payout. Studies of publicly traded companies suggest family-controlled businesses outperform management-controlled firms via a 6.5 percent greater return on equity, said Ernesto Poza, a professor of global family enterprise at Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale.
“I just consider it a real honor not only to go back to that but to do it with my son and to be in business with him and, hopefully, hand off some of those skills that my dad handed off,” Paul said.
As to politics, Justin said he doesn’t know if he soon would turn that into a family business as well. His father jokingly noted that he could still run on that statement.
The Johnsons will celebrate Father’s Day the same way they have spent every Sunday afternoon for the better part of 40 years - with family at Bill Johnson’s Big Apple, no relation.
Tags: business partnership, business partnerships, clashes, corporate america, family, Family Business, family businesses, family enterprise, global family, johnsons, personal relationship, return on equity, robert blaney, second generation, small business administration, succession plan, third generation, thunderbird school