Environmental Issues In Real Estate Essay Example for Free

Environmental Issues In Real Estate Essay Real estate transactions involve the purchase of land properties and generally, environmental issues are frequently considered before a sale is completed. Environmental issues are usually taken into account, be it a residential real estate property, or a huge industrial piece of land. Should environmental risks be associated in a particular real estate property, these are frequently manageable, but the more critical issue regarding environmental issues is the efficient identification and reaction to these environmental issues (Goeters, 1996). Most problems arise after a real estate property sale because the environmental issues were not detected as early as possible. The most common environmental issue that is associated with real estate is land contamination. Such environmental issues generally come from the activities of the present or past owners, or better categorized as on-site contamination. Another source of land contamination could be off-site, which involves the physical location of the real property to outside sources of contamination. It is important that the source of the contamination of the land be identified so that the amount of risk may be determined. In addition, knowledge of the contamination source allows sanctions for property responsibility. Issues are considered severe when the water reservoir and its connecting waterways for drinking water are already affected or positioned near the real estate property. Another environmental issue that is considered as a major concern in real estate is mold contamination. The spread of pathogenic fungi and its spores frequently originate from buildings that are erected using low-quality standards and currently have poor ventilation. Such fungi often generate spores that are usually air-borne and may be transmitted through wind and any air circulating system. These spores may also stick to the walls of an existing building that is situated on the real estate property. Not only do fungal spores cause future deterioration to a building, these spores may even cause upper respiratory tract infections, allergies and immune reactions in the individuals that frequent the area involved. Several lawsuits have accumulated in connection to personal injuries or diseases causes by exposure to these pathogenic fungi. In addition, the insurance industry has lately been involved in cases that involve exposure to building-related real estate properties. Furthermore, fungal contamination involves all types of real estate properties, including residential, commercial and industrial buildings, and the effect of such contamination is doubly felt because the building’s structure itself will continuously deteriorate unless treated, and the residents of the home or the employees of a commercial or industrial company make succumb to fungi-caused illnesses. It has been strongly suggested that owners of real estate properties be cautious of the insurance coverage they procure for their employees should such untoward incident occurs in their company or industry. Asbestos is also an environmental issue that should be carefully considered in real estate. Asbestos is generally a component of pipes and boiler rooms, as well as in flooring materials and in roofs. Asbestos exposure cases are often higher in number in commercial and industrial companies, yet these cases may also occur in residential real estate properties. The amount of money require to solve any presence of asbestos in a building is usually huge, hence it should always be kept in mind that any possible cause for asbestos exposure be pointed out as early as possible, before any exposure is determined to be chronic, which is turn results in more severe health problems among individuals associated with the real estate property. Individuals practicing in the real estate business should be sincere enough to advise the client about any information that may be associated with asbestos presence or exposure within a real estate property he is showing and selling. Another element that has been identified as an environmental issue in real estate is radon. Radon gas shows no color or odor, and is very diffusible through water and air. This gas has been frequently reported in residential real estate properties, hence it is important that the water and air of a real estate property be tested for radon gas before any further step is taken towards the purchase or sale of a real estate property. Unfortunately, the safe or tolerable level of radon gas has not been established to date, hence any tests for the presence of radon gas in the water or in the air is just to satisfy the need to know where radon gas is indeed present in a real estate property. Real estate properties such as buildings and houses are often presented to potential buyers as painted structures that are ready for occupancy. Hence, the environmental concern for lead in the paint used to coat the walls of the rooms of the real estate property is also an issue. Individuals most affected by the presence of lead in the paint used to coat the walls are the young children who often play on the floor of the rooms of a residential establishment. Young toddlers often crawl around the house and unfortunately, ingest any little thing they find interesting in front of them. These little things may be lead paint chips that fall off from the wall and ceiling and land on the carpet, floor, or even the soil in the backyard. Other families enjoy gardening and planting their own vegetables, hence the presence of lead in the soil may pose a bioaccumulation of lead in the people living in this contaminated real estate property. It is therefore important that pre-erected real estate structures be evaluated for the presence of lead before any further step in done towards the purchase of the real estate property. Should lead be detected in a real estate property, an abatement procedure may be performed before any family or individuals move into the real estate property. Currently, there are several assays that may be employed in the identification and management of environmental issues associated with real estate properties (Spada, 1997). Hence, it is imperative that these environmental factors be tested before any purchase is done on a real estate property, because it these factors go undetected, the consequences on the personal health of the individuals that will live or frequently spend time within the real estate property will be affected. Such undisclosed environmental issues often end up in lawsuits, as well as tarnished reputations in the real estate business. Hence, for those in the real estate business, it is of prime importance that reliable and specific information be obtained about the real estate property they are advertising and selling. Such caution regarding the collection of information will serve as a good method is preserving the real estate business of a company. Certain real estate companies have established their own customized procedure in reviewing properties before they release these properties to the public and announce that this property is for sale. These customized procedures should be foolproof, robust and efficient in identifying environmental issues in a real estate property. Should this be kept in mind, there would probably be lesser cases of lawsuits and health illnesses in the future.

Media Advertising - Colgate Advertising Strategies Over the Years Essay

A Look at Colgate Advertising Strategies Over the Years "To be, or not to be?" This is the question that plagues companies every year. The business is one of survival- survival of the fittest. Companies around the world are constantly scattering about, developing new weapons in nuclear advertisement. Having looked back at old strategies, it is interesting to see the strategies that worked have lasted over time. Since the April 5, 1937 edition of LIFE magazine, Colgate's advertisements have evolved to appeal to different audiences as seen in another ad in the January 1985 edition of LIFE. Though targeting different audiences over the past fifty years, Colgate has kept many of their original advertising strategies, but has changed their approach by introducing children as subject matter, leading parents to respond to the ad with their children in mind. A sort of sex appeal is visible in the 1950's commercial, mainly focusing on the fun that a man and a women can have if they both were to have nice breath. The Colgate advertisement in the fifties is focused towards an adult audience who are single and looking for ways of attracting the opposite sex. All the characters are portrayed as clean, single people. Ray, the man in the ad, seems to be a business man, though not the type to be swimming in money. Colgate wanted every man to be able to identify with Ray, and so placed him in what would probably have been the largest economic group. Not only would this allow the men in the audience to identify with the situation, but it would also attract the middle class and make it easier for them to relate and become involved with the ad as well. In the Colgate advertisement of the eighties, a question could be raised in contrast to... ...e the viewer is an average American, the ad forces the reader into a group- such as you are a mom, or one of those that love the taste- which gives reason for the viewer to by the product. Ultimately, Colgate has always tried to make their advertisements in a way that stops the reader from flipping the page by capturing his interest. Strategies used by Colgate in the fifties can be seen in the ad of the eighties, though the subject matter has changed and some of the strategies have become extinct. This subject matter, which includes the children from the eighties, became a very important factor in appealing to the audience. Likewise, the subject matter from the fifties, including the sex appeal, was probably very effective in that day. Because times have changed, neither of the ads would have fit in the others time, and would likewise probably not work in 1997.

Olympic rent-a-car company Essay

SUMMARY Olympic is a US rent-a-car company facing some changes in the market it operates. A competitor company (Enterprise) is changing its loyalty program. Olympic managers have to evaluate the impact of those changes and to take actions in order to respond correctly to those changes without losing market share and if possible taking advantage of the situation. The aim of this study is to evaluate those changes and to propose a recommendation to respond to these market changes. MARKET SUMMARY The car renting industry in US is a $24 billion industry dominated by 4 big players, Enterprise, Hertz, AVIS and Olympic with the following market revenue shares: Enterprise is the dominant player with 50% share ($12 billion) followed by Hertz with 24%, AVIS with 14%, Olympic with 7% and the other 5% are shared by smaller players. This business is heavily dependent of the overall state of the economy and since the global crisis of 2008 were there was a 6,5% break in total revenues, the revenues are recovering since 2009 growing between 2 and 3% every year. This revenue growth is due to the growth of prices rather to the growth in the number of clients. There are 2 big markets for the rent-a-car business, the Airport rentals and the Local rentals. The airport rentals contribute with 50% of the total revenue ($12 billion) and are divided into leisure and business clients. Costs are higher due to fees paid to the airports that consist in 10% of the revenue plus the fixed fees for counters. The local renting contributes with the other 50% ($12 billion) and the main clients are insurance companies. The counters are located at car dealerships and repair shops. Enterprise and Hertz are the main players in this market and Enterprise has more than 50% share. This industry is heavily influenced by the adaptation of the car fleet to demand and between 2008 and 2012 in response to the global crisis the total number of rent-a-car cars was diminished by 0,5%. CUSTOMER ANALYSIS In 2012, 27% of US adults (proximately 59.400.000 people) rented a car and the main renters were the business travelers. In 2012 airport market, 20% of the travelers were business travelers and gave origin to 80% of the revenue and the other 80% of travelers were leisure travelers and represent 20% of the revenues. Usually business travellers pay more than leisure travellers. This is mainly because leisure travelers pay smaller per day charges as they travel in lower revenue days, do preplanned trips and to loyalty program redemptions. Business travelers tend to earn points in business travelling and to spend those points in leisure travelling. Across this industry, Rent-A-Car companies tend to use loyalty programs to develop relationship between costumers. Each company has it’s own program but they are all very similar. The customer earns points depending of the number of days they rent the car and they also receive free upgrades. The earned points can be claimed and exchanged for rental days. In 2013 Enterprise changed the way their customers gain the loyalty program points. Customers that received points based in the number of days of usage now receive points based on the money they spend. This means that they earn more points faster. Usually clients don’t have any kind of restriction to participate in loyalty programs. Anyone that rents a car can be a member depending on the number of days they rent, as consequence people are members of several loyalty programs as they rent in different companies. The rental loyalty programs are not really differentiating rental companies they are a perk for customers. In 2012 10% of Olympic customers were members of Olympic medalist program and these customers provided 21% of the revenues. They paid for 3.996.000 days and claimed 375.000 free days. This means $323.400.000 of revenue come from members of Olympic medalist program, to this revenue we have to subtract the fixed costs, the free days cost and the program advertising costs ($28.000.000). The fixed cost is 20% of $21 ($4,2) multiplied by the total rental days and equal $1.575.000 and the free days cost is equal to $7.629.552. This gives an economic value of $233 per Olympic medalist program customer. The regular customers represent 79% of revenues that translate into $1.216.600.000. The total rental days for these customers are 24.681.000 and these days represent a cost of $103.660.200 (24.681.000 x $4,2). There are also the advertising costs of ($108.000.000 – $28.000.000 = $80.000.000). Subtracting to $1.216.600.000 the variable costs and the advertising costs we end with $1.032.939.800. Dividing this value by the total number of regular customers (11.052.000) the economic value of the regular customer is obtained and equals to $93. The conclusion is that loyalty program clients  still have a big economic influence in the revenue structure. COMPANY ANALYSIS Olympic is one of the four biggest rent-a-car companies in the US with a share of 7% of revenues witch is the smallest share of this group. The company as chosen to be a follower and has always priced lower than Hertz. It has 464 rental locations and a fleet of 108000 cars that remain in the company for 8 to 18 months. The income per car is slightly below de industry average and the reason for this maybe the dominance of airport counters that bring more costs to the company than a local counter. Olympic has seen an improvement on its revenues for the last 4 years and in table 1 we can see an increase of the net profit from a loss of $15 million in 2008 to a profit of $32 million in 2012. The main reason for these results is the company flexibility to adapt its car fleet to demand (table 2) as well as the adaptation of the number of counters the company has (table 3). RECOMMENDATION The recommendation is that Olympic rent-a-car doesn’t follow the Enterprise strategy. About 1,45% of the total rental days of 2012 involved free days and a free day reward costs about $21 to cover the fixed costs and the payment to the franchisee. Of the 108000 cars fleet each car was rented about 232 days per year. With this data we can calculate the total rental days. Total rental days are equal to 108.000 x 232; this means 25.056.000 rental days per year.  The 1,45% of the total rental days give us the total free days per year in 2012 this percentage represents 363.312 free days that multiplied by the cost of a free day ($21) will give us the cost of all the free days in 2012. The total cost for the free days is equal to $7.629.552. If Olympic decides to match the Enterprise offer, the number of free days will increase to a value between 1,65% and 1,95% of total rental days this means a number of free days between 413424 and 488592 and an increase of free days per year between 50.112 and 125.280 days, this means an increase in cost of the programs free days of $1.052.352 to $2.630.880 (1 million to 2,5 millions increase of free days cost per year). Considering that the demand will not increase a lot this means a net decrease of 3 to 8% of total profits. This decrease is significant for a company that has a small operating margin of 15,8%. The way Olympic responds to the enterprise initiative will be decisive in the profitability of the company. Matching the enterprise offer will lead to an increase in the costs and no increase in market share is guaranteed. Since no great increase in demand is predicted, following the Enterprise strategy would simply represent a 3 to 8% reduction in profits, Olympic cannot afford this reduction due to the narrow operating margin. Beside this, the fleet of Olympic rent-a-car is very well adapted to de demand and implementing no blackout days would probably let some Olympic medalist clients unsatisfied. Enterprise has a huge fleet and available cars this means that it can afford not having blackout days. The increasing usage of the Internet to compare prices and to book services will diminish the loyalty programs importance and effectiveness. Third party consolidators the online price comparisons and bookings bring a greater relevance to prices the rent-a-car companies practice. This will affect the companies’ loyalty programs effectiveness. By focusing on price, customers will chose a rent-a-car company by the price of the service taking to a second plan the loyalty programs benefits. This means that Olympic should focus on global cost reduction in order to keep lowering the prices and therefore gain advantage over the competitors. In the future the company  that has the lower prices will dominate the market. One other market tendency is the reduction of business travelling and the growth of internet based communications. This means that in future rent-a-car companies will have less business travellers, at this moment these clients are the heavy users of loyalty programs, and the leisure clients will gain weight on the revenue share. Olympic should maintain their loyalty program essentially due to the economic value of the loyalty programs customers ($233) much greater them the regular clients ($93) and improve the program by offering other kind of benefits that could improve the market penetration of the program. Some of these benefits could be faster pick up and drop off time for the program customers. Along the way the company could evaluate their loyalty program customers economic value and adapt to the expected decrease of loyalty program importance by reducing free rental days and using the savings of this reduction on rental price reduction. Since loyalty programs don’t benefit business companies Olympic offer the chance to this kind of customer to choose between the loyalty program benefits or a decrease in price. This should attract more large companies business maintaining the small and individual share. To reduce the cost structure Olympic should also try to gain market in the local business dominated by Enterprise and Hertz, this would help to avoid the large costs associated to the operation in airports. This way Olympic could gain market share of a market dominated by 2 companies, maintain their business market share threatened by the teleconferencing trends (shift to insurance) and to improve the global cost structure by taking advantage of the lower costs associated to this kind of counters.

Family business throughout generation Innovation - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 2113 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Business Essay Type Analytical essay Level High school Did you like this example? Discuss the extent to which innovation has enabled some family businesses to survive through many generations Before starting, it would be helpful to provide some definitions in order to clarify the arguments and examples used in this essay. Chambers-Harrap gives us two definitions of the word à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"innovationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“1 something new which is introduced, eg a new idea or methodà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“2 an act of innovating.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ [1] This helps us, as it shows that innovation need not necessarily apply as we might initially think only to new ideas in a material sense, like inventions (also innovations in their own right) but also to methods; to the application of new or fresh ideas or techniques. Secondly, and importantly, we should define exactly and thoroughly what is meant by à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"family businessà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ before proceeding any further. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Family business throughout generation: Innovation" essay for you Create order The GEEF, the European Group of Owner Managed and Family Enterprises, gives four criteria that may define a family business; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“A firm, of any size, is a family enterprise, if: 1. The majority of votes is in possession of the natural person(s) who established the firm, or in possession of the natural person(s) who has/have acquired the share capital of the firm, or in the possession of their spouses, parents, child or childrenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s direct heirs. 2. The majority of votes may be indirect or direct. 3. At least one representative of the family or kin is involved in the management or administration of the firm. 4. Listed companies meet the definition of family enterprise if the person who established or acquired the firm (share capital) or their families or descendants possess 25 per cent of the right to vote mandated by their share capital.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  [2] This definition, technical as it sounds, is a very useful one, for it will help us to apprec iate the true range of businesses, both in past and present, which may correctly be defined as family firms. It would be easy to think, at face value, that a à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"family businessà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ only means one which is run by a whole string of high-profile family members, handed down from generation to generation. Or, we may even visualise only the huge, powerful family-run empires which have existed throughout the ages, such as the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"dynastiesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ David Landes visualises in the introduction to Dynasties; Fortune and Misfortune in the Worldà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Great Family Businesses; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦many images come to mind, exotic and dramatic, from the silken lineages of Chinese Emperors to the soap-opera magnates of the 1980s television of the same name.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  (p.ix)[3] In fact, as Landes himself points out, family businesses are all around us, and their existence is far more common than we may realise, especial ly if we are only thinking of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"family businessà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ in the kind of context shown above; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦statistics show us that the great majority of the worldà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s enterprises today are family firms. In the European Union, family firms make up 60-90 per cent of businesses, depending on the country, and they account for two thirds of GNP and jobs. In the United States in the mid-1990s, more than 90 per cent of firms were family units, accounting for more than half the countryà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s goods and services; further, one third of the Fortune 500 (the countryà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s five hundred largest firms) were said to be family controlled or to have founding families involved in managementà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ . (p.xi)[4] Now we have laid down some definitions, we can look at one of the most innovative and successful businesses of modern times; Virgin, founded by Richard Branson. John Arlidge of the Sunday Times, in an arti cle about Bransonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s plans for multi-billion dollar world expansion of the Virgin business, describes an organisation that is à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“still very much a family business in ownership structure and public imageà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ .[5] Bransonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Virgin brand has come a long way since 1970, when it was founded as a record shop. The vast, global empire Virgin now comprises is too great to list here in full à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" but it includes mobile phone network provision, cable and broadband services (all now branded Virgin Media), a chain of health clubs, an annual music festival, a brand of cola, a cruise holiday agent, a UK railway operator, and an international airline. Adaptability is key to ensuring the survival and development of any business, and Branson has, over the decades, shown exceptional acumen in moving with the times. Virgin Media, by embracing mobile and internet technology, has managed to corner large segments of this still-grow ing market, being one of the first providers to offer a high-speed broadband package, as well as an integrated service bundling internet provision, a mobile phone contract, and cable television all in one. Virgin Trains are a prime example of the embracing of innovative technology ahead of the competition. Tilting trains are not a new idea; in fact, British Rail developed and tested several prototypes of a tilting train in the late seventies and early eighties; it was named the APT, and there were several prototypes.[6] The tilting trains, able to handle corners at greater speeds, broke journey time records, and showed significant promise in the improvement and modernisation of Britainà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s rail networks. However, an unfortunate combination of mishaps during testing, bad press, and disorganisation and lack of will on the part of senior management caused the project to be shelved. Only in 2002 was this revolutionary technology finally brought into live service on Britainà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s railways, when Virgin introduced its fleet of Italian-built Class 390 Pendolino tilting trains to the network. The high-speed lines now run from London to Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and Glasgow, and journey times have been slashed. Bransonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s vision, it seems, even goes beyond the skies, and reaches to the stars; in addition to what is now considered a first-class Atlantic airline, Branson is already selling advance tickets for journeys into space on his new à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"spacelineà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢, Virgin Galactic.[7] Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton, according to the Evening Standard, was one of Virgin Galacticà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s first customers, reportedly paying  £625,000 for five seats on one of Virginà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s space cruises. Virgin today, almost four decades since its creation, is thriving more than ever, and continues to grow in size, scope and ambition. The ability to recognise, and make the most of change and innovation can ensure the failure or success of a business. Were it not for the unnatural business ability and ruthless tactics employed by the first true entrepreneur of the Rockefeller family, John D Rockefeller, the failure to embrace innovation could at once point have done the business significant harm, and the fortune he passed onto his children in his later years may not have been nearly so great. Generally speaking, John D Rockefeller adapted very well to circumstances, managing to stay ahead of the competition by any means he could (often undercutting them, and eventually neutralising them entirely by buying them out). When building his rock oil business, he was quick to realise the usefulness of railways, and he quickly went from transporting his product on wooden pallets by rail to using fully enclosed tanks. He embraced and used science to his advantage when it suited him. Shortly after the potential use of rock oil (hitherto thought useless) as an illuminant was identified by George Bissell, John D had some good fortune. An industrial chemist named Samuel Andrews, who had worked out how to purify oil using sulphuric acid, happened to attend the same Cleveland Baptist church as John D. Rockefeller and Maurice Clark, his business partner. The two entrepreneurs had a meeting with Andrews, and a vision for a new partnership in oil refining was conceived. The refining of oil heralded the next major development in the Rockefeller business. However, Rockefeller failed to appreciate the significance and potential of pipelines for transportation of oil over a distance; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“In a lifetime of successes, his one significant error was a failure to appreciate the potential contribution of pipeline oil transport.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  (p.223)[8] Instead, he continued to transport his oil by rail, in spite of the pipelines now being rapidly developed by other corporations. To stay ahead of the game, he resorted to using his w ealth and connections to thwart these new developments by his rivals wherever possible, at one point even buying a stretch of land solely in order to block the progress of a pipeline being laid by a company named Tidewater (p.224)[9]. Landes points to Rockefellerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s stubbornness in refusing to embrace this particular innovation, which could have been so beneficial to his business; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“This was once instance in which John Dà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s normally impeccable instinct deserted him. When his associates urged him to begin his own network of pipelines, he dismissed them.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  (p.224)[10] A lesser businessman may have been finished by such an error of judgement à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" but Rockefeller soon realised his oversight, and after initially failing to buy out Tidewater, began to construct his own pipelines. Eventually he bought a controlling stake in Tidewater, thus giving him control of all major pipelines. One enduring family busi ness, indeed a name which has earned itself the title of dynasty, is that of the Rothschilds, made famous and extremely wealthy by ventures in banking and finance. Between 1813 and 1815, Nathan Mayer Rothschild played a key role in financing the Duke of Wellingtonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s army, via shipments of bullion to Spain and Portugal. Nathan Mayer and his brothers soon built up an entire intercontinental network of gold transportation. Nathan Mayer established a financing company in London, issuing bonds for government loans. The empire spread, until the Rothschild name became synonymous with international banking and vast wealth. There is no doubt whatsoever that such success would not have been possible had men such as Nathan Mayer Rothschild been extraordinarily astute and quick to create and make the most of bold new opportunities, and employ innovative and audacious, hitherto unheard-of approaches to place their competitors firmly in the shade. If anything, what these examp les show us, even in an essay of this limited size, is that innovation, and adapting to change, are key factors in the success of business à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" and surely not just in family businesses, but in all types of business. Certainly, many businesses become family enterprises purely as a result of their survival through the generations, so it is correct to say that these qualities are important to family businesses in particular. Yet there are those who would argue that family businesses are ill-equipped to deal with fast-paced change. As Landes points out; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦todayà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s prevalent economic thinking has chosen to ignore the family firm as a subject of serious study and has all but written it off as obsolete and inconsequentialà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ The world changes with the increase of knowledge. New discoveries prompt new ways of doing business that call for new personnel.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  (pp.xi-xii)[11] As technological advance has cha nged the nature of business throughout history, it is true that some family businesses throughout history have dissolved entirely; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“The new chemical firms thrivedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Mostly the firms began as family enterprises, but the complexity and cost of the work called for heavy investment and early on led to mergers that took the form of joint-stock, limited-liability managerial corporationsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ an industry that was once well-suited to family enterprise became the perfect candidate for managerial capitalism.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  (p.xiii)[12] However, the case studies selected for this essay demonstrate that innovation, at least for several of the worldà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s biggest players in business, has been instrumental à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" and also that failure to properly embrace innovation and change can spell trouble for an organisation. Finally, if we refer back to the statistics quoted from Landes at the beginning of this essay, we can see that the sh eer proportion of enterprises around the world today which are family businesses proves that they endure à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" and to last as long as many of them have would not have been possible had they not moved with the times, which many would argue are changing more quickly than ever before. Bibliography Branson, Richard; Losing My Virginity: The Autobiography. Virgin Books; New edition 2005 Landes, David; Dynasties; Fortune and Misfortune in the Worldà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Great Family Businesses. Penguin 2006 Ward, John L; Perpetuating The Family Business: 50 Lessons Learned from Long Lasting, Successful Families in Business. Palgrave Macmillan 2004 Online sources https://www.chambersharrap.co.uk https://www.virgingalactic.com https://www.thetimes.co.uk https://www.geef.org [1] https://www.chambersharrap.co.uk/chambers/features/chref/chref.py/main?query=innovationtitle=21st [2] https://www.geef.org/definition.php [3] Dynasties; Fortune and Misfortune in the Worldà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Great Family Businesses [4] Ibid [5] https://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/consumer_goods/article3998893.ece [6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Passenger_Train [7] https://www.virgingalactic.com/htmlsite/index.php?language=english [8] Dynasties; Fortune and Misfortune in the Worldà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Great Family Businesses [9] Ibid [10] Ibid [11] Ibid [12] Ibid