Book provides insights on family-owned businesses
FOR THE second time in the history of the 51-year-old Jamaica Stock Exchange, the recognition of a book was used in the ceremonial bell-ringing ceremony to signal the opening of the day’s trading. The historic event took place on February 27, with the recognition of a book co-authored by Dr Lawrence Nicholson from the Mona School of Business and Management and Dr Jonathan Lashley of the Cave Hill campus, University of the West Indies.
The book, Understanding the Caribbean Enterprise: Insights from MSMEs and Family Owned Businesses,
represents part of the output of the research being done by Dr Nicholson on family-owned businesses in the Caribbean.
Marlene Street Forrest, managing director of the Jamaica Stock Exchange, congratulated Dr Nicholson and his co-author, and shared that the book provided insights which could assist in finding solutions to issues that many micro, small and medium-sized family-owned businesses face today. These include succession planning, business financing and marketing, all of which are important, and coincides with part of what the Jamaica Stock Exchange has set out to achieve. In her address, she stated: “We want to congratulate Dr Nicholson and his co-author, Jonathan Lashley, on the launch of the book and thank them for giving the book to the market. This publication can assist us in providing insights to micro, small and medium-sized family-owned businesses through the examination of their landscape and their journeys.”
Street Forrest also stated that she will be adding the book to the recommended reading list for participants in the Jamaica Stock Exchange’s E-campus.
She emphasised that the areas covered in the book will prove instructive to future business aspirants and governments within the Caribbean, while assisting in the development of small and medium-sized family-owned businesses in Jamaica.
In his remarks, Dr Nicholson said the book gives insight into the impact family businesses have on the Caribbean economy. He noted that in researching the book, he found that when it comes to family-owned businesses, the Caribbean has had a “cut and paste” mentality in that, it looked at what was happening in other parts of the world and copied it, without understanding the context of how family businesses would actually work within the Caribbean economy. He noted that “this book is important in helping us to understand the impact family-owned businesses have on the Jamaican economy as we’ve found, while doing research for the book, that revenue generated from family-owned businesses in Jamaica is estimated to be equivalent to 32 per cent of the country’s GDP”.
Dr Nicholson also stated that the Mona School of Business and Management is committed to offering business education that combines the theoretical and practical components in addressing different areas specific to the context of the Jamaican and Caribbean experience. That is, research done by the Mona School of Business and Management will continue to extend beyond the esoteric and will address practical areas that will have a positive impact on the Jamaican and Caribbean economies.