Frontier Capitalism: How Family Businesses Survive and Thrive in an Age of Uncertainty

Family businesses thrive in some of the world’s toughest environments, providing vital lessons for businesses everywhere.

The bulk of the world’s growth in population and economic activity in the foreseeable future will be generated in the developing world. This is precisely where enterprising families dominate, operating very differently than their peers in more stable and affluent nations. These businesses not only survive but actually thrive in turbulent times, enduring wars, lawlessness, market failures, environmental disasters, and more. The world’s most advanced economies will increasingly experience these types of structural shocks and chronic uncertainties in the years ahead. The question is, what can they do about it?

In The Enduring Enterprise, Devin DeCiantis and Ivan Lansberg bring readers into the lives of families operating in emerging and frontier economies who rely on a unique portfolio of stabilizing strategies to create islands of trust, resilience, and prosperity amidst persistent turmoil. Yet these tactics can also be deployed by any business coping with extended periods of volatility or building a more systematic approach to managing risk.

Drawing on real cases from around the world, and on their extensive research and consulting experience with family enterprises globally, The Enduring Enterprise will provide business leaders everywhere with new and useful adaptive strategies, proven to work in the toughest conditions, to help them face the world of greater uncertainty that lies ahead.

Devin DeCiantis specializes in the financial, organizational, and strategic aspects of family enterprise. Raised in Toronto, Canada, he holds a Master’s degree from the Kennedy School at Harvard with a focus in finance and economics, as well as a Bachelor of Business Administration from York University. He has worked with private and public sector leaders throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, and teaches about family enterprise at the Harvard Business School and the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Ivan Lansberg grew up in an entrepreneurial family in Venezuela. He has consulted with complex family businesses in the USA, Canada, Asia, Europe and Latin America, and has made significant contributions to the understanding of family business governance and succession. He was one of the founders of the Family Firm Institute (FFI) and the first editor of its professional journal, the Family Business Review.

After receiving B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Columbia University, Lansberg taught at the Columbia Graduate School of Business. He became a professor of organizational behavior at the Yale School of Organization and Management for seven years before going into consulting. His last book, Succeeding Generations and his previous book, Generation to Generation, were both published by Harvard Business School Press and have been widely praised as landmark works.

Lansberg is a frequent speaker at family business programs organized by universities and industry groups. He is on the faculty of Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He and his wife live in Guilford, CT.