Family Owned Business Institute History

In September 1999, the Seidman College of Business and the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce (working with its Family-Owned Business Council) raised $301,000 from a salute to Jay Van Andel and Rich DeVos. This became the seed money for the Family Owned Business Institute, housed at the downtown campus of Grand Valley State University.

• The Family Owned Business Institute, along with the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce and The Right Place Program, conducted a study in June 2001 to determine the presence and needs of West Michigan family owned businesses. The database can be used by faculty and students for further research, as well as for presentations at national conferences.
• After going through demanding procedures, two faculty members of the Seidman School of Business were awarded grants for separate research projects pertaining to family businesses.
• In his work entitled "Succession Planning of Family Business, research scholar Jaideep Motwani examined the conceptual model development, knowledge transfer issues and cross cultural comparisons within family business.
• Research scholar Ram Subramanian explored into "Market Orientation of Family-Owned Businesses." In particular, this covered how family businesses have positioned themselves within the marketplace in respect to non-family firms.
• An undergraduate course on family business has examined the principles of family-owned businesses. The course specifically addresses the unique set of challenges that can limit the impact and survival of family businesses.
• On August 2001, Shorouq Almallah, FOBI's Knowledge Resource Manager, began to organize the institute's information kernels, including its strategic web presence. The first edition of the website, www.fobi.gvsu.edu, debuted on September 6, 2001. However since then, a new edition of the website, www.gvsu.edu/fobi has been added.
• In May 2011, FOBI served as the host for the 2011 Family Enterprise Research Conference. The three-day international conference brought more than 250 research scholars and family bsuiness owners to Grand Rapids, MI. Conference highlights included presentations by renowned family business scholars and leading local family businesses (Bissell, Alticor, Haworth, Meijer, Van Andel institute).