Company name: Imperial Manufacturing Group
Headquarters: Richibucto, NB
Employees: 700
Market: North America
Industry: Manufacturing
Market International
The Challenge: Imperial Manufacturing Group had never been through a succession, so when its owner and founder, 57-year-old Normand Caissie, began thinking about transitioning the company to his children a few years ago, he “didn’t know where to start and how to ensure everything was done fairly and right,” says Mr. Caissie. But he did know two things with certainty: any transition would require at least five years and there was a lot at stake. For starters, there was the future of the business he had built almost from scratch starting in 1979 with four workers. Today Imperial is a heavyweight manufacturer of more than 7,000 heating, air conditioning, ventilation and building products and facilities in Canada and the US. And there was his family, especially his two children, daughter Andree Caissie Savoie and son Mario Caissie, both of whom have worked their way up the company ranks. Today, his son is VP of operations and his daughter is marketing coordinator.
“The legal stuff and the accounting, that can be done by the lawyers and accountants but there are much more important issues — what I call the soft issues,” says Mr. Caissie. “If you have good family relationships and your heart means well and you’ve brought up your kids properly, there are all the issues related to the parents and the children that go far beyond the accounting and legal stuff. You don’t want to run the risk of hurting those relationships.”
The approach: The Caissies brought in one of Canada’s leading authorities in family business succession planning, Dr. John Fast, the founding director of the University of Waterloo’s Centre for Family Business. “I consider Dr. Fast an expert on all the soft issues involved with succession planning, which are so important,” says Mr. Caissie. “These issues can be very touchy and sometimes uncomfortable to discuss, so with the help of someone who is very knowledgeable and has gone through this process before, it makes it much easier.”
Marketing feature: Don’t get stuck — build a stronger business
The Implementation: With Dr. Fast’s guidance, the family has engaged in many discussions and open dialogue and, three years in, the process continues. “But when we talk about succession planning, I’m not just talking about who is going to own the company next. I’m talking about who is going to form the leadership team,” says Mr. Caissie. “I’m 57, others in the company are in their early 50s but we also have some whippersnappers here in their twenties and thirties who are the next generation of leaders. My children are also picking who is going to lead this organization with them. They’re building their own team. When somebody retires here now, my children are more involved in the hiring than I am because these are the people they are going to work with — the new generation who will run this company tomorrow.”
Marketing feature: Estate planning — it’s never too early
The payoff: Step by well-grounded and measured step, the transition is taking place at Imperial Manufacturing Group. There’s no infighting between the siblings as to who will eventually lead the company. In fact, says Mr. Caissie, “my son and daughter have already decided who is going to run the company. There’s new blood in the organization. You can see the momentum. Younger people do things differently than baby boomers like me. And today, if you look around the table at the management team, there’s some grey hair but there’s a lot more youth around that table. And that’s good. It’s what’s needed. You need a balance, and the way to create that balance is to let the next generation, if they’re capable, get involved with the hiring of the new management.”
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