It’s time to rethink how family businesses think about and act on sustainability issues. It’s not always about being willing to act – but being capable.

Professor Alfredo De Massis, of Lancaster University Management School; the University of Chieti-Pescara, Italy; and IMD, in Switzerland, has worked on family businesses and entrepreneurship for decades – striving to produce knowledge that these firms can use to their advantage.

He joins us to look at why family business decisions are not always rational, why the generation in control of a firm is key to sustainability, and the differences made by geography, company size, industry, and the involvement of external experts at board level.

We look at why some family firms want to have a positive social impact and are more embedded in the community, the importance of transitions in leadership in affecting change in sustainability attitudes, and the differences between a business-first and a family-first family business.

Plus, Alfredo reveals why he is the black sheep of his family, we consider what AI will mean for the future of sustainability in businesses, Paul gets muddled by Gen-Z, and Jan is mesmerised by an Italian accent.

Read more about Alfredo’s work on environmental practices in family firms here: https://doc.your-brochure-online.co.uk/Lancaster-University_FiftyFourDegrees_Issue_23/50/

For more information about Lancaster University’s Centre for Family Business, see here: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/lums/research/areas-of-expertise/centre-for-family-business/

And discover more about Alfredo here: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/lums/people/alfredo-de-massis

Episode Transcript

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