This four page document summarises the content and outcomes of the workshop.
Resilience and Family Business Workshop - Apr 2022
This 2 day event, on 28 and 29 April 2022, brought together over 30 representatives of family business (individually and representative bodies); policy makers, and academic contributors to enter into frank, and generative, dialogue about the concept of resilience and its multiple interpretations through the lenses of planet, place and people – all within the context of family business.
This dedicated resource provides an overview of how our collective project is applying diverse perspectives to the complex challenge of building resilience in family business.
Resilience is a theme for our times. Recent global events including the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, the escalating climate crisis, and movements such as #Metoo and Black Lives Matter exposing systemic inequalities, are putting pressure on organisations to rethink how they do business and how they contribute to the health and wellbeing of their workforces, their communities and their environment.
As major contributors to the global economy, and with an eye to securing the business for future generations family businesses are a perfect site to interrogate how businesses adapt and transform to build resilient organisations that can positively deal with change and thrive in difficult times.
The workshop was co-organised by:
Four perspectives on resilience
An overview of the themes and concepts covered during the event, from each of the four co-organisers.
Jan Bebbington
Jan Bebbington, Director of the Pentland Centre for Sustainability in Business at Lancaster University, gives her perspective on resilience.
Allan Discua Cruz
Allan Discua Cruz, Director of the Centre for Family Business at Lancaster University Management School, gives his perspective on resilience.
Valerie Stead
Valerie Stead, Director of the Academy for Gender, Work and Leadership at Lancaster University Management School, gives her perspective on resilience.
Ben Harrison
Ben Harrison, Director of the Work Foundation at Lancaster University Management School, gives his perspective on resilience.
Keynote presentations
Three keynote presentations were delivered during the workshop. The slide decks of each are available to download below. Please don't reproduce without permission.
Day 1
Fundamentals of Resilience in the Anthropocene Biosphere - Henrik Österblom, Science Director, Stockholm Resilience Centre
The Planet and Resilience - Duncan Pollard, Honorary Professorial Fellow, Pentland Centre
Day 2
People, Places and Resilience - Susan Murray, Director, David Hume Institute
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Reflections on the workshop
Watch the video below to hear what some attendees got out of the workshop.
Reflections on the workshop
Sara Brennan, Positive Business Director at Pentland Brands, and Professor Helen Tregidga, Royal Holloway, share their reflections as participants in the Resilience and Family Business Workshop, Lancaster University, 28-29 Apr 2022
More work on resilience and family business
Explore related work by Pentland Centre members.
