家族企業中性別歧視減弱

Under Japanese civil code, business families with no son to carry on the family name can turn to an unusual solution: adopt one. Around 10 per cent of business-owning families with no male heir adopt a son, says Kazunori Kaneko of the consultancy Business Succession Center.

按照日本民法，沒有男性繼承人來傳承家族姓氏的經商家族可以另闢蹊徑：收養一子。在諮詢機構“企業繼承中心”(Business Succession Center)任職的Kazunori Kaneko稱，在沒有男性繼承人的經商家族中，約有10%選擇收養一子。

Japan is not the only country where family businesses will go to some lengths to hand over control of the company to a man. Nor is it the only country where family business leaders can be determined to hand over to someone who will continue the family name, although this practice is not often seen today.

並非只有日本的家族企業會盡可能地確保將企業掌門人之位傳給男性。另外，也並非只有日本的家族企業掌門人會一門心思要傳位給一個能夠延續家族姓氏的繼承人——雖然這種情況如今並不常見。

“No Chinese man would want to change his name,” says Annie Koh, professor of finance at Singapore Management University. “But in the past few years because of the one-child policy in China, if the family firm is fixated with their own surname, in rare cases you have found a man who will change his name.”

“沒有哪個中國男人願意改姓，”新加坡管理大學(Singapore Management University)的教授許茵妮(Annie Koh)說。“但在過去幾年，由於中國的獨生子女政策，倘若家族企業執着於延續其姓氏，在個別情況下，你可能會發現某位男士改姓。”

That desire to preserve the family name might have been one factor that has prevented women from rising to the top of family businesses in some countries, but experts say other explanations for historical discrimination have been even harder to overcome.

延續家族姓氏的願望，可能阻礙了一些國家的女性成爲家族企業領導人，但專家們表示，導致這種歷史性歧視的另外一些因素更加難以克服。

Sometimes the barriers have been legal. In what was then West Germany, for example, married women only gained the right to work without their husband’s permission in 1977, says Dominique Otten-Pappas, senior research fellow and assistant professor of German family businesses at the University of Witten/Herdecke.

這些阻礙有時是合法的。比如以前的西德，只有到了1977年，已婚婦女才無須丈夫允許就能出去工作，維藤/黑爾德克大學(University of Witten/Herdecke)研究德國家族企業的高級研究員兼助理教授多米尼克?奧滕-帕帕斯(Dominique Otten-Pappas)說。

“Before that, a husband could forbid his wife from working and this had repercussions for family businesses,” she says.

“在那之前，丈夫可以禁止妻子工作，這對家族企業造成了不良影響，”她說。

Even today, resistance to women inheriting the family business persists. “Probably some of the males in my generation see it as a given that it is their right to succeed,” a third-generation female respondent from New Zealand told researchers for PwC’s 2016 Next Generation survey, which examined the views of the next generation of family business leaders and included a special section entitled: The Female Perspective.

即使在今天，女性繼承家族企業依然面臨阻力。在普華永道(PwC) 2016年題爲《下一代》(Next Generation)的調查中，一位受訪的新西蘭女性第三代繼承人對研究者表示：“我這代人中的一些男士很可能認爲，繼承權必然是屬於他們的。”這項調查考察了家族企業下一代領導人的觀點，幷包含一個特別章節，標題爲：女性視角(The Female Perspective)。

Nevertheless, such attitudes appear to the shifting. In the same PwC survey, 30 per cent of the women interviewed had a seat on the board (in the US only about 21 per cent of board seats at S&P 500 are held by women, according to Catalyst, a pressure group that works to improve representation of women in the workplace). And more than 50 per cent of the women interviewed did not think their gender would be a barrier to them running the family business, according to the 2016 survey.

然而，這種態度似乎正在轉變。在普華永道的這份調查中，30%的女性受訪者是董事會成員（致力於推進職場性別平等的組織Catalyst稱，在美國標準普爾500(S&P 500)成分股企業中，只有21%的董事會職位由女性佔據）。普華永道2016年的那項調查顯示，超過50%的女性受訪者不認爲自己的性別會妨礙她們經營家族企業。

In addition to the shifting attitudes towards women in the workforce, demographics are playing a role, with the global trend towards having fewer children pushing up the number of women leading family businesses.

除了職場中人們對女性的態度有所轉變外，人口統計學也在發生作用，全球少子化趨勢推動了家族企業女性領導者數量的提升。

China is an extreme example of this. The decades in which limits were placed on childbirth have left families with little choice. “Because of the one-child policy, you’re seeing more China family firms willing to have the daughter take over,” says Prof Koh.

中國是這方面的一個極端例子。幾十年的計劃生育令許多家族別無選擇。“由於獨生子女政策，人們看到更多的中國家族企業同意讓女兒接班，”許教授說。

Sian Steele, head of PwC’s family business group in the UK, sees the growing desire to become more strategic as a powerful driver of increased gender diversity in the leadership of family businesses. “There’s a strong emphasis on professionalising their governance, making sure they have a clear strategy and that the succession plan is based on skills and not gender,” she says.

普華永道英國家族企業團隊的負責人沙恩?斯蒂爾(Sian Steele)認爲，人們希望企業更具戰略性，這有力地推動了家族企業領導層的性別均衡。“治理的專業性很受重視，要確保領導者有清晰的戰略，且繼承人的選拔取決於能力而不是性別，”她說。

Whether or not it involves relatives, this approach appears to be favouring senior level gender diversity in family businesses. In EY’s 2017 Women in leadership report, 70 per cent of family businesses were considering a woman for their next chief executive and 30 per cent were “strongly considering” this.

不管沒有親緣關係，這種做法似乎都有利於實現家族企業高層領導人性別的均衡。2017年安永(EY)關於女性領袖的報告顯示，70%的家族企業正在考慮讓一位女性擔任下一任首席執行官，且30%的企業表示它們在“認真考慮”這樣做。

In many parts of the world, growing access to education for women and girls has made a difference, says Fiona Moore, a professor at the school of management at Royal Holloway, University of London. “It means you have women who are better educated, better able to take over the business and possibly more assertive.”

在世界許多地方，婦女和女童有更多機會接受教育，這已帶來改變，倫敦大學(University of London)皇家霍洛威管理學院(school of management at Royal Holloway)教授菲奧娜?摩爾(Fiona Moore)說。“這意味着現在的女性受過更好的教育，能夠更好地接班，可能還更有決斷力。”

Some see increased female leadership as a positive development for family businesses. “It dramatically increases family talent pools, helps with succession planning and can make firms more sustainable,” says Adam Rowse, head of business banking at Barclays. “It also helps avoid situations where a son feels a particular obligation to work in the family firm when they would prefer another career.”

一些人認爲女性領袖的增加對家族企業有積極影響。“這極大地擴充了家族的人才儲備，有助於繼承人的安排，也能令公司更久地傳承下去，”巴克萊(Barclays)商業銀行業主管亞當?羅斯(Adam Rowse)說。“這也避免了那種情況——兒子感到有義務效力於家族企業，但他真正感興趣的其實是其他的事情。”

Ms Steele believes the benefits could extend beyond the sector itself. “In 10 to 15 years, you could see some significant family businesses being led by women,” she says. “That’s a great opportunity to create role models.”

斯蒂爾認爲由此帶來的好處也許不僅僅限於家族企業。“在今後的10年到15年，你將看到一些由女性領導的重要家族企業，”她說。“這是創建女性楷模的大好時機。”