SME Succession Planning in Canada Essay

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Succession Planning

Glossary

Succession Plan for Nadia La Russa

Best Practices

Survey Results

When it comes to corporations and businesses of any size, succession planning is something that can and should be planned out in advance. As cited pervasively throughout the rest of the report, the following can all be asserted and proven. The need for succession planning is needed in all countries including Canada, the United States and in any other developed country in the world. Succession planning has different meanings and takes on many forms depending on what country the business is located in, how large the business is, who runs the business, who owns the business and what the long-term plans for this business happen to be. Indeed, most large firms have entrenched and very specific succession plans in place that center on promoting the best and the brightest in the firm so as to continue the pathways and positivity that the firm exemplifies. When it comes to small to medium enterprises (SME's), they tend to be much smaller in terms of executive structure and they are quite often family-oriented. Even if other qualified people are present and around the business, ownership usually stays within the family. Regardless, there needs to be a defined succession plan in place so that the business can continue to operate and function properly when people exit the business due to retirement, voluntary departure, death or disease. However, just picking a random employee or family member is less than wise. That person has to be screened, groomed and otherwise prepared to lead the firm. If the prospective person cannot or will not continue the themes, plans and convictions that are desired by the current ownership, then someone else should probably be selected.

This report will cover succession planning as a general topic and then there will be a focus on the Nadia La Russa family of companies. Indeed, they all operate quite well but are dependent on each other and they reside in a specific corporate form. Thus, it is important for any successor executive or owner, family or not, to know how the business needs to and should progress and improve over the years. After a quick summary of how Nadia La Russa is currently comprised, there will be a succession plan offered to help Nadia La Russa continue to grow and operate. This growth can manifest in the form of more revenue, more sub-businesses and perhaps even business units that are self-sufficient and able to stand on their own. This is not the case right now with any of the sub-businesses but overall directions are good. Of course, all of the above will be coupled with proper research techniques and a proper literature review.

Chapter II - Introduction

Succession planning may seem like over-emphasis on not much of anything to a lot of people. For "mom and pop" organizations and one-person operations, this may largely hold true. However, for businesses of any size or complexity or for businesses like Nada La Russa which are multi-faceted and multi-dimensional, then succession planning is something that can and should be taken seriously and the ongoing operations of the firms that make up Nadia depend on it. Since one business openly and clearly relies on the other, the inactions that happen in one of the child corporations will have an effect on the others.

As noted in prior work, Nadia La Russa Enterprises is an umbrella company that has six different operating entities. Each of the six entities is in a differing stage of development. Those entities are as follows:

Signature Financial Services: This is the bookkeeping and accounting firm that is under the Nadia La Russa Enterprises envelope. They specialize in offering customized solutions for home, small and medium-based organizations that do not require a full-time bookkeeping staff. For example, if a small firm wanted to hire someone to do tax filings or sales tax audits but did not want to hire that person as an actual full time (or even part time) employee, they would typically hire a firm like Signature Financial Services to do the work.

Ottawa House: This is a co-working space that allows for home-based businesses to enjoy the options and amenities that regular offices get to enjoy. Further, the home-based people can get the use of these benefits without the overhead and other headaches that would typically be associated with maintaining a physical office that is not based in a home. This would include things like copiers, fax machines, supplies and so forth.

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It would also include the cost of separate phone lines, internet and service contracts for equipment such as copying machines and other items that a regular office person may not be able to fix and maintain on their own. Also, there are the separate utilities that are sometimes included in the rent amount for an office but this is not always the case. Such a virtual office also allows for collaboration between business professionals as well as potential networking partners.

Zoom Courier: This is a local-based courier that specializes in professional appearance, guaranteed delivery by firm deadlines and the use of "green" options such as low-mileage vehicles, optimized routing and schedules so as to minimize gas usage and so forth. This would be a blend between the traditional couriers that exist in the business and commerce space and the modern ideas that dictate that sustainability and conservation are no longer optional or discretionary for any modern business. This is true in Canada as well as anywhere else in the civilized world.

Granite Towncars: This subsidiary of Nadia is intended to be a middle ground between low-end and conventional taxi services or even buses and the high-end personal cars of the corporate type. This service allows people to rent personal cars without necessarily renting an entire limousine at a cost that is more than taxis and other lower transportation but not too high as to preclude people that are seeking something in the middle. It is a blend between the flexibility and professionalism of a limousine service but it lacks the inconveniences associated with waiting for taxi cabs and buses.

Frank Training -- A "to the point" training service that allows for the training of business professionals and staff. The nature of the train includes team building, management training, leadership classes, customer service skills and an overall vast array of business-related courses. Frank Training is on the forefront of a type of training that is known as LEGO Serious Play Methodology.

Update -- A social media company that permits and allows for business owners to manage and position themselves online in terms of social media presence and online presence in general. It is basically an outsourcing of the social media management task rather than executives and other assorted internal staff having to manage it personally and internally. This would be along the same line as the Signature Financial Services line of business except that the focus of the service is very and obviously different.

Obviously, some of those businesses are very different but they are all closely related in one or more ways. First of all, any business that needs financial services could quite likely need business training or social media management. As such, the opportunity for internal referrals is enormous. Rather than having no answer for questions about other services or having to refer to external businesses, Nadia La Russa can indeed be a "one stop shop" for more than one service. Other basic business needs such as courier services and car services are also available from Nadia La Russa. Typically, the Nadia La Russa envelope of services would require the hiring of at least three to four different companies but Nadia offers all six of them. Nadia can also keep an eye on what services are asked for that Nadia does offer and can then make a choice as to whether a new business or expansion of a current one is warranted or could be lucrative.

To come back to the main point of this report, it is clear that businesses that Nadia La Russa runs and operates are multi-faceted and this would mean the management would need to be multi-faceted to match. Of course, no one person or a small group of people could manage all of these businesses alone, let alone do the staff functions of such businesses. Quite likely, each different entity would have to have at least one major executive that oversees the operations and goings-on if the firm. Further, there would have to be someone to oversee the six component businesses as a whole to ensure that all of them perform as expected and required.

Purpose

This is where succession planning would come in. Just as Nadia La Russa is multi-faceted, the succession planning would need to be multi-faceted. As stated in the prior-described purpose of this study, the complexity and diversity of these companies requires that a proper and complete strategic plan be implemented so as to ensure….....

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