SMALL BUSINESS : Cal State Fullerton Offers a Forum for Family-Owned Firms

Succession; sibling rivalry; pay levels for family members.

Those are some of the most common problems that contribute to this sad fact about family-owned businesses: Only three in 10 survive into the second generation and only one in 10 to the third.

Now family businesses in Orange County have a place to go for help.

Cal State Fullerton has opened its Family Business Council--a center providing seminars and a forum for family business owners to talk about their common problems.

Judy Harman, associate director of the Family Business Council, estimates that 3,000 to 4,000 family firms operate in Orange County. And like those elsewhere, she says, “they’re unique, because they’re trying to balance family and business structures at the same time.”

For a $2,000 annual fee, council members are invited to breakfast meetings and seminars on topics such as “Asset Protection Planning for the Family Business” and “Providing Income for the Family Business Owner.” The council meets once or twice a month.

The Family Business Council is one of about 70 such centers that have formed in recent years at universities around the country, and it opened with the financial help of several companies, including Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co.

In the last two years, Massachusetts Mutual has sponsored numerous family-business forums as part of a push to boost sales to such businesses.