The Wendel International Center for Family Enterprise

The Wendel International Center for Family Enterprise

In 1996, Wendel supported the creation of a university teaching chair at INSEAD, an internationally renowned business school with campuses in France (Fontainebleau), Singapore and Abu Dhabi, to increase awareness among young students of the economic importance of family-owned companies and their unique managerial characteristics. The success of this program led to the creation of the Wendel International Center for Family Enterprise, which is now a global center of excellence for studying and researching family-owned companies. Our Group is represented at the Center by Priscilla de Moustier.

The Center's creation paved the way for the development of educational programs designed for members of family enterprises and people actively involved in the field. One of the Center's key objectives is raising awareness and encouraging understanding of the importance of family-owned companies as a model of durability. This is important because family-owned enterprises, each with a unique structure and corporate history, are not only the predominant type of company in the world, but also those that last the longest.

The Wendel International Center for Family Enterprise is an international platform fostering the exchange of ideas as the way to best support family businesses and the individuals and entities fundamentally linked to them.

Supporting
family-owned companies

To increase the value of family-owned companies, the Center offers high-quality teaching that provides the tools necessary for communication, dialog and conflict resolution.

Publishing
innovative research

The Center shares its work on family-owned companies with the wider community so as to promote them as a model of durability, responsibility and productivity.

Training corporate executives and managers

The training center advises, raises awareness and imparts new knowledge to the stakeholders of family-owned companies, giving them the resources they need to ensure their companies stay the course over the long term.

Awards for the Wendel International Center

The Center has received numerous awards, including the:
- EFMD Case Writing Competition (From Swords to Ploughshares, Family Business category);
- European Case Clearing House (Resort in Pueblo Valley, Entrepreneurship category);
- FFI International Award (for outstanding achievement in furthering the understanding of family business issues);
- FBN Best Practice Award (for the Next Generation International Exchange Programme);
- FBN Research Honours Award (for Fair Process: Striving for Justice in Family Business);
- IMD-EFMD Case of the Year Award (HP-Compaq merger, Family Business category).