Steinberg's company

 1.      Why has Steinberg’s been successful?

One of the reasons why Steinberg’s acquired success was due to the commitment of its leadership. Sam, for instance, is a very talented business person. In fact, the author of the article quotes him as a person who possessed a unique retailing talent. An insatiable curiosity led him. He always determined to know how he could set a speedier growth rate for the storefront for it to reap higher to quench the needs of his family (Aronoff, 2004). Secondly, Sam recognized the secret of information about the business. He constantly sorts advice and prevailing updates that enabled him to recognize where he went wrong and rectified immediately. Thirdly, Sam understood customer relations. He ran the business with his deep customers’ interest at heart. This attribute maneuvered his way to being reckoned within the market. In the article, the author asserts that due to this fame, executives from all over the U.S. came to study Sam’s ways of business. The fourth source of Steinberg’s success was diversification. One learns that Steinberg’s operated a self-service meat section and dairy departments. The Steinberg’s ensured proper service to customers through making accurate and timely deliveries to the customers. Before growth came to the overwhelming stage, the business used family labor to avoid bad expenses (Aronoff, 2004).

 Another was delegation. Sam knew he had all the basic but as human understood that he had other shortages. He thus hired and entrusted his workers to drive the success of other departments like the sugar department.  Last but not least, the success can be attributed to adequate capital and financing. For instance, the purchase of 39 Grand Union stores in the province of Ontario followed by the full acquisition of Cartier Refined Sugars (Aronoff, 2004).

2.      Why, out of all of the immigrants in Montreal, was Sam able to create this enterprise?

According to the article, Sam had entrepreneurial gifts that outshone any other immigrants. At the age of 13, he relished his mother with his moves into business and expansion strategies. It was at this tender age that Sam acquired a room next to the store and another outlet in town to expand the business (Hoiberg, 2014). This natural wit was rare to the fellow immigrants in Montreal. Another factor which drove Sam into the creation of the Steinberg’s was the responsibility or burden that he felt to his family. He already had five siblings, his mother, a wife, and in-laws, having married by the age of 22. His mother, having no alternative had been forced to stop his schooling. He thus had to make all ends meet to compensate for that. Also, his family and that of in-laws depended on the Steinberg’s. He thus needed to be a smart, quick thinker to the creation of this an enterprise that could cater for the extending family (Aronoff, 2004).

3.       What does "success" mean to Sam Steinberg?

As explained above, Sam was an earner for his family. In that case, Sam’s visage of success means attaining the needs and wants of the family. Secondly, Sam’s success entails maximum business expansion. He invites partnerships, takes advantage of available chances to purchase or acquire other companies, hires several workers and opens stores or branches whenever the opportunity comes (Aronoff, 2004).

4.      What role has the family played in the success of Steinberg's?

Family plays diverse roles in the attaining of the different aspects of success for the Steinberg's. Firstly, they act as chief advisers as well as role models. Ida her mother is one apparent example. Even after separation to her husband Vilmos, she kept a spirited mood having six kids to bring up and educate. In the article, she is quoted as a woman who brought up her children along lines of moral values and virtues. It is her advice and role model that among other things, Sam followed to make Steinberg a venue of success.  Secondly, the family played the role of vital sources of capital and unfailing partners with Steinberg. A palpable example here obvious Sam’s mother who at first came up with the $2,000 which she used to purchase and stock the store. Besides his mother, Lewis Roth (Sam’s father-in-law) also later sourced the company a hefty amount of capital. Sam and he had opened a store where each had half the share capital. Sam’s wife, Helen also contributed capital to Steinberg after acquiring her inheritance from her father, Roth (Aronoff, 2004).

Besides being advisers and sources of capital, the family was also sources of affordable labor to the Steinberg Enterprises.  For instance, his brothers were an unfailing source of labor. Sam and his brother Nathan ran a store. The siblings also shared various responsibilities in the various business sections. Sam was Steinberg president; Jack handled maintenance; Nathan was in charge of fruit buying and Max in charge of construction. Besides, his cousins and brothers-in-law, Sam Roth, and Lawrence Roth respectively were also placed in charge of different stores (Aronoff, 2004).

5.      Are there any negatives to the family nature of the enterprise?

There are many advantages of family-run enterprises as seen in this case. For instance, there is the advantage of cheapness of labor, easier and intensive commitment and ease of capital acquisition. However, there are still negativities to these types of enterprises. First is a possible inadequacy. Due to the complexity of acquiring jobs in our societies today, business leaders are sometimes compelled to hire or promote family members who may not be having the adequate skills for a certain position. This factor has in many times led some companies to experience some bad apples. Another negativity aspect is the nature of governance that accrue majority of family enterprises. In many of these companies, the leadership structures are not strict or adequately structured. Here, Governance issues that pertains internal hierarchies and rules are witnessed. This element jeopardizes the ability to follow and adhere to internal laws of the business as everybody feels equal for leadership and may thus not abide by any necessary ultimatums or criticism (Aronoff, 2004).

Succession planning or identity planning is also not an easy task in family businesses. Apparently, this is one of the most difficult challenges that these businesses face. This problem is mainly felt when the older generation is not ready or prompt to permit the younger generation to take up the room to learn, develop and grow. In other times, there lacks any member of the subsequent generation who is ready to assume the leadership task in his parent's company. Such dysfunctional behaviors mostly result from prior misjudgments, criticism and lack of support from parents or original owners of the family business (Aronoff, 2004).

6.      Many family businesses are unable to succeed in the transition to a new generation of ownership. Was the transition from Ida to Sam successful? What made it so?

The transition of the family business from Ida to Sam can be termed very successful. That can be seen from the effective ladder steps the business climbed at the hands of a new manager, Sam.  Its success can be seen from its growth from a mere storefront to a multiplicity of stores all around, up to the extent of soaring enough capital to acquire or purchase other stores. It can also be seen in terms of the multiplication of the number of employees from family members only to 17500 workers (Hoiberg, 2014).

Among the factors that made this transition successful are the following. First is openness. At first, Sam was reluctant to take up the challenge as he required education before anything else. Nevertheless, Ida was able to teach his son the difficult truth until he settled his mind into business. Secondly, Ida successfully taught his family their distinctive roles. He entrusted the overall management task to Sam having observed his ability and ensured that all the other siblings obeyed and respected his prompts.   Finally, Ida properly timed the transition time. She gave Sam the opportunity to develop and learn business management skills at a tender age of 13. As Sam grew, Ida gradually passed her skills to him and constantly reinforced him. Eventually, Sam was up to the task. One positive characteristic of a successful transition is that a successor should be better than the predecessor.  This transition qualified such an awesome one as Sam became better than his mother (Hoiberg, 2014).

7.      What are the family's values, and how do they impact the business?

Also called familial values, family values are ideal values that are held to be transitionally learned and reinforced by or within one’s family. They can also be defined as virtuous and high moral standards acquired through family relationships, from generation to other generations. They thus pertain to the structure, function, roles, styles beliefs, attitudes, and ideals of one’s family. Actionable family values positively impact the family business. Respect and obedience that accrue a leader in a family business from the workers is effective to set the pace for success (Aronoff, 2004). In such a business, though the majority of the staff is relatives, they take the leader as the boss and give him/her all the deserving high opinion. Counter-currently, businesses in which family values are not ample, experience the worst leader/workers relationships.  In here, effective working is shallow as the organization’s environment is poor as even the lowest ranking employee may not feel it hard to divert from managerial orders (Aronoff, 2004).   

8.      Now that Steinberg's is a public company, is it still a family business?

Yes. Though public, Steinberg still retains its family business status. It is worthy to note that though Steinberg's company may have lately hired workers from the general public and created partnership with other companies, its mode of ownership is still maintained. Since the Ida's, I still own the company would still categorize it as a family enterprise. More so, though the company went public, Sam retained 52% of its total shares (Aronoff, 2004). 

9.      Why does the overlap between the business and family seem relatively minor and benign?

The overlap between the business and family is not very strong because the family members do not own equal share capital in the business. Sam is the manager and takes much of the tasks. It’s apparent that one who does not under the mode of ownership of this business would, at first sight, call it Sam’s. Secondly, the business is registered under his name that may take it long to convince one that it’s a family core business and not a sole proprietorship.

10.  What should Sam have done to prepare better the company and the family for the challenges they now face?

The family of Sam is shown to experiences a lot of problems later which led to back shots at the company. Conflicts amongst his daughters are seen as rampant. Sam should have loved them equally and taught them family values he inherited from his mother. Even though he takes Mitz as a threat due to her competitive spirit, this should not have gone to the extent of showing little concern for her to her sisters. That way, the transition would have been simpler and sound (Aronoff, 2004).

11.  What issues does the succession question raise?

One of the issues was who among the potential successors was really up to the task. All the people best suited for this position had quitted earlier. Second to that was how an esteemed successor would be determined (Aronoff, 2004).

12.   Who should Sam select as a successor?

I prefer that Sam would have chosen Nathan for his successor. He was among the people who steered the business reap its current status having worked in loyalty there since the beginning of its foundation to success (Aronoff, 2004).

13.  What do you think Sam's goals/criteria are in this process?

Sam requires the business to continue its trend of thriving. As such I think he follows the S.M.A.R.T. goal criteria that imply goals that are specific, secondly measurable, achievable, realistic/relevant, and time-sensitive (Aronoff, 2004).

14.  What should Sam's goals be?

Sam’s goals include maintaining the success so achieved, increasing profitability and capital, and setting a pace towards success, which should not be derailed by any of the subsequent leaders of the company.

15.  Should the outside directors play a role in the selection? What should that role be?

Yes. Their roles should be to harmonize the selection criteria and also act as witnesses to the agreement of the appointed successor (Aronoff, 2004).

16.  If he picks Mel, how should he explain/rationalize this choice to the non-family executives?

Selecting a non-family member does not mean the company stops from being family owned. I chose Mel due to merit and the loyalty he has shown to the Steinberg’s. Besides, this eases the family quarrels for the position (Aronoff, 2004).

17.  What can you predict for the company in the next two decades?

The company will have entered the global market and acquired its way to intensive recognition. It will have attained the goals still not acquired and created more than double the current job positions to the family and the public. It will also have installed technology to most of its operations and aspect of modernity (Aronoff, 2004). 

  References

 Aronoff C.(2004). Perpetuating the Family Business: 50 Lessons Learned from Long Lasting Successful Families in Business. Palgrave Macmillan

Hoiberg J.(2014). How to Successfully Transition, the Family Business. 

Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in College Essay Writing Service if you need a similar paper you can place your order from cheap essay help online.