How to Thrive in a Family Business

What, according to you, is a family business? What are its benefits? Why do a majority of family businesses fail? Can a family business be turned to your advantage?
Set around the backdrop of an enterprise that has been around for over a hundred years - the Baidyanath Group, these questions, and many more, are answered in this book on what makes family businesses tick specially beyond the third generation.
As any business passes through generations and each generation passes through these various stages of life - Brahmacharya, Grihastha, Vanaprastha and Sanyas - the transition is not just difficult, but also painful, both financially and emotionally. The resultant losses of this generational paradigm are not only monetary, but also familial. Do family businesses suffer from elder son syndrome, or is early division seen as taboo? When to plan succession and should one part with ownership?
Surprisingly, the business behaves as per the behaviour of the generation that manages it. Given an identical situation, the decision would vary as per the generation taking the call. Life is all about the choices we make, our decision, if right, becomes a 'virtue' for the family and the business. If not right, it becomes a 'sin'.
The book serves as a guide to what not to do by every member and every generation of a family. Identifying thirty actions which are the biggest sins that hinder the prosperity and continuity of any family business, Ajay Sharma, a third-generation businessman, weaves his own experiences with in-depth research and knowledge on the subject of family business. He believes that this book will be helpful to everyone - not just the stakeholders of family businesses, but also the millions who work with these family businesses, people who are the real lifeforce.

Ajay Sharma was born to the first family of Ayurveda - the Baidyanath Group - which now completes 100 years of caring and has seen four generations own and manage it.

Sharma began his formal education at St Joseph's Convent, Allahabad, completing it at Mayo College, Ajmer, and graduated from the University of Allahabad. He studied family business management at SP Jain institute, Mumbai at the ripe age of 35.

A leading name in healthcare, he is on the Board of Governors of the Santokba Durlabhji Memorial Hospital, Jaipur, and the founding Board Member of Chaudhury Brahm Prakash Ayurvedic Charak Sansthan, New Delhi. He is the recipient of the Nagarjuna Award, the highest award in Ayurveda. He has also received the Super Brand Award for Baidyanath Chawanprash.

Ajay Sharma also pursued photography and took art lessons from senior artist Prakash Karmakar. Sharma paints occasionally and actively collects art. He is also on the panel of judges for the Dhoomimal Art Gallery-sponsored Ravi Jain Annual Art Award for upcoming artists. A vintage car lover, he owns a Chevy 1927, which is the oldest American car on Indian roads.

He works and lives in the city of his birth, Delhi, with his family.