Research Details

Abstract

This case concerns a family business's efforts to assess and shape collective decision-making among a large sibling leadership group and transition from an informal founder-led operation to a more formalized organization. In late 2021, the family behind MIC Food, a Miami-based processor and distributor of tropical fruits and vegetables, such as plantains, was led by six second-generation siblings, the children of the Honduran-immigrant company founders. The business had come through the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic well, with record expected annual revenue. But as competition and regulation increased, the siblings had to consider whether their informal decision-making--including weekly meetings and regular group texts--should be systematized to ensure strategic and efficient decision-making in the future. Readers will put themselves in the siblings' shoes to consider the best approaches to gaining consensus on strategy and growth goals; sharing power within the sibling group and, potentially, with executives brought in from outside; and creating vision and objectives for bringing the third generation into the enterprise.

Type

Case

Author(s)

Jennifer Pendergast, Sachin Waikar

Date Published

12/09/2022

Discipline

Family Business

Key Concepts

Decision making, Enterprise agility, Entrepreneurial business strategy, Family businesses, Leadership, Leadership transitions, Organizational culture, Organizational decision making, Organization structure and design, Strategy

Citations

Pendergast, Jennifer, and Sachin Waikar. MIC Food: Shaping the Right Decision-Making Process for the Future. Case 5-322-502 (KE1239).

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