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David Wood spoke at CFFB’s April 29th breakfast…telling his family’s 3-generation business story and providing education and recommendations about strategic planning. David’s stories contained and excellent mix of family pride, family respect, and business savvy…particularly, the ability to make major changes when major changes had to be made.
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David first talked about his grandfather Wilbert Copeland (Bert) Wood, who, after losing his job in 1930 founded the family business - W.C. Wood Company. The Wood family business started as a machining operation in the back of a candy shop in Toronto.
As David told this story, I thought of my father and his stories of men knocking on our family’s front door in the 1930’s…asking if they could work for food. And, my Dad also told stories of his group of buddies fishing in the Thames River and giving fish to the transient men who camped there while they tried to find work.
“The Depression” – what a difficult time that must have been…imagine 30% unemployment…imagine losing your job while trying to feed your family…imagine being a child trying to understand it all.
Yet – even the darkest clouds can have silver linings!
David’s grandfather W.C. (Bert) Wood found such a silver lining. He must have been quite a fellow…founding a very successful family business while other men knocked on doors to work for food and other men camped in groups by the rivers…cooking fish over open fires.
David described his grandfather as a “fabulous engineer”. I could picture him machining parts in the back of the candy shop, designing and building electrical farm equipment. The business community would have been in disarray…money tight, some folks shell-shocked, morale low…spirits tested to the limit. Somehow, no doubt largely due to an unfailing commitment to succeed, Bert Wood created a family business during those difficult Depression years. And, in 1938, he built the W.C. Wood Company’s first freezer.
David explained the highlights of W.C. Wood Company history.
David’s father John F. Wood joined the company in 1964. John graduated from the University of Western Ontario’s Business School…now the Ivey School of Business, where David teaches. By the mid-1960’s W. C. Wood Company manufactured a range of products: David mentioned farm equipment, home appliances, military equipment, hardware, water heaters, and aircraft equipment…including landing gear parts for Avro Aircraft Limited. John Wood brought a new level of business savvy to the family business. John took over leadership of the family business in the mid-1970’s.
John Wood retired in 2005. That’s when David took over leadership of his family’s business. It was clear major changes were required. He refocused on growth of core-business profits. The company right-sized and returned to profitable operations by 2007. David made the decision to sell W.C. Wood Company. Whirlpool owns the company now. David stayed to help transition the business until 2008. And, still involved in family business, David serves on the boards for Danby Products Ltd and Westminster Woods.
David is a full-time lecturer in operations management at the Ivey School of Business. Ivey summarizes Operations Management as “a discipline about managing productivity, inventory, quality, and other processes related to making products or providing services”. In addition, David provides business consulting services.
So, at our CFFB event, it was easy for David to move from providing a history of his family’s business to providing education and recommendations about
strategic planning. David started by sharing a startling pair of facts:
- 10% of family businesses have a strategic plan
- 53% of companies have a strategic plan
That signals an area where family businesses can and should improve.
“Strategic planning is important because it realigns management’s direction towards a common goal.”
David helped CFFB members understand another important point…
“Strategic Planning offers an opportunity to develop the next generation.”
David asked - if strategic planning provides such value then why don’t business people do it?
David provided what he believes to be the top reasons business people fail to do strategic planning:
- Lack of time…people say they don’t have time to plan
- The planning process is frustrating…business people know the day-to-day work and they feel comfortable doing the day-to-day work whereas people do not feel as comfortable working on long-term decisions
For governance and planning at family businesses, David described 3 important considerations…3
partsof business:
- Ownership
- Family
- Business Managers
He recommended family business people discuss at least these 3 parts of their business at least once a year. He also recommended we separate these 3 parts and consider them individually.
To help start the process, David provided his definition of strategic planning.
Strategic Planning def’n:
What you DO to create a sustainable competitive advantage.
(and…what you DO NOT DO)
[If you are like me then you keep your eyes open for straightforward business definitions…and you will remember this one David provided.]
Strategic Planning is what we family business people must do to create a sustainable competitive advantage. As David noted, things change rapidly in business.
The value doesn’t rest in the pieces of paper created under strategic planning.
The process of planning is where family business people will obtain the most value. The value is in the sharing of thoughts and ideas.
Quoting David Wood:
“the document is the by-product”
“companies that engage in the process have higher success rates”
David provided a summary of the MBA strategic planning process, he talked of the importance of the implementation work, and he answered questions for our members.
Thank you, David, for sharing your family story and your strategic planning recommendations.