Values in Transition: How Family Businesses can secure their future – with confidence and joy
Eighty-eight percent of all companies in Switzerland are family-owned. They are the backbone of our economy – yet face a quiet but profound challenge: inner transformation.
Why do entrepreneurial families today need more than just asset management? In the next five years, 20 percent of these companies will need to address succession planning. Fewer than a third have a concrete plan in place. At the same time, a new generation is emerging, bringing with it fresh perspectives on impact, responsibility, and purpose – and a desire to embed these values in the family’s strategic direction. What to do when the existing framework still holds – but no longer suffices?
At ESSENCE RELATIONS, we do not begin the strategic process with numbers or structures, but with questions: What defines a family business? What is its inner compass? Where does it stand today – and where is it headed?
Through curated family workshops, we create space for these essential conversations. A space for what is often crowded out by daily business – candid, in-depth dialogues about values, aspirations, and visions for the future. About the family charter. We help shape a shared language as the foundation for meaningful next steps.
Strategy as a mirror of identity
Impact is never accidental. It stems from attitude – from a clear sense of how responsibility is lived within the family, and how that responsibility can be expressed in a world in flux.
We support entrepreneurial families in developing a resilient ownership strategy – one that balances preservation and innovation. Continuity and change. The present – and the future.
Purpose with perspective. Impact with grounding.
Many family businesses today want more than to preserve – they want to shape. Yet meaningful impact arises not from goodwill alone, but from defined goals, sound analysis, and the right support.
Whether in the development of a foundation, through targeted philanthropic engagement, or in co-investment with our boutique MINUS2, we make impact measurable, strategic, and sustainable.
As sparring partners, we have been guiding family enterprises for over 13 years through generational transitions – with sensitivity to family dynamics, a strong network, and experience at the intersection of business, society, politics, and media. We listen, clarify, connect – and help make new things possible.
For more insights on the topic, download the following presentation for free: