Not all family-run businesses end in tears, writes Patsy Moy
According to conventional wisdom, going into business with relatives or close friends is asking for trouble. So the odds seemed stacked against architect Alexander Chang
Kiu-kwong when he quit his job five years ago to join a Web design venture set up by his twin, Alfred Kiu-sing, and their older brother, Hudson Kiu-fan.
But Alexander, 31, has never regretted it. The brothers worked so well together that when their father retired from running his Indonesian restaurant, IR1968, in Causeway Bay three years ago, they took over and now are opening branches in Tsim Sha Tsui and Sha Tin.
The Changs aren't exactly minting it. 'Earnings are just enough to cover daily operations and our salaries as managing directors,' says 33-year-old Hudson. 'But no one has thought of leaving the business, which belongs to three of us.'
Despite the dominance of family conglomerates in Asia, blood ties aren't necessarily the best foundations for business in modern society, experts say. When a venture takes off, there can be fights about profits, and when things go wrong, it's hard to seek compensation from siblings, especially in Chinese culture, says Raymond Chan Siu-yeung, who runs courses in corporate governance and directorship at the Baptist University.